Masses to Masses 2
by iNf3ctioNZ
Summary: After two years with Garrus at C-Sec, it's finally time. Shepard's here, and we've got a rogue Spectre to stop, a Reaper to defeat, a missing girlfriend to save...in the only way we know how. With plenty of gunfire, one-liners and romance! Sequel fic. Thanks to wielkiboss on DeviantArt for the cover.
1. Ian vs The Prologue

Chapter 1

Poets of the Fall: War

**A/N: Yes, we're back! And a lot earlier than I said, so I probably owe you all an explanation for that. To put it simply…I completely overestimated how long I'd need for a holiday. Over the course of months where I'd been writing Masses to Masses 1, it had become a source of entertainment for me as well as you readers, a part of my daily routine I became accustomed to then felt odd without it in my life. In short, I was bored, and this was the cure for that. I doubt anyone's complaining I'm back early, mind…**

**Oh yeah, important note. This is a SEQUEL story. That means if you're reading this and haven't read the original fic, Masses to Masses, then you're not going to understand a lot of stuff. And I mean, a LOT, especially about the main protagonist (myself) and how he gets along with Garrus. So go read it, then come back here, alright? Things start getting good in Chapter 5, it's a bit of a slow starter ;-). **

**Another thing, my update rate. Now, Masses to Masses 1 was quick, if I say so myself. I was getting a chapter out every two days or so, which was awesome. Probably not the case now. Due to the nature of Mass Effect 1 events and the issue now that I have to follow canon quite closely instead of just making stuff up (mostly), plus the fact conversations are going to go beyond just Garrus and I thanks to the rest of the Normandy crew, means that chapters are going to be longer than before. Which obviously means I need more time to write them…you get the picture. Schoolwork is accumulating on me a lot faster than I'd like as well, which is obviously going to have an effect. (A Mass Effect? Oh, fuck you, that's funny.) But we'll see how it goes. Don't worry about it.**

**And one last note. Herr Wozzeck has been putting symphonies and stuff in his chapter names…I might start employing a similar system myself in some chapters (see the title above), except I'll be using good music ;-). Ooh, controversial.**

**Well, I think that's everything important out of the way…time for obligatory disclaimers!**

**Mass Effect, its characters, its setting, and all the other stuff in the Mass Effect universe is not owned by me. It's owned by the geniuses at BioWare. I also do not own any bands, companies, products etc. that I mention.**

* * *

'_I've been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real, or not?'_

**Sora, Kingdom Hearts**

* * *

Hi, I'm Ian. Here's a few things you might need to know, or maybe just forgot.

Two years ago, I was transported here by an asari matriarch called Shiara T'Aenoi, and left on the Citadel with nothing but some of my old Earth stuff and visions of the galaxy's destruction running around my head. So far, answers have been pretty thin on the ground. The one conversation I had with Shiara made more questions than she answered. Apparently, I'm supposed to be some kind of saviour or something, brought here to stop the Reapers, and joining Shepard would be my first step to starting my 'destiny', as Shiara put it. That's all I was really supposed to know, but she accidentally let one major detail slip when we talked. She said she'd been searching for me for several decades, well before I was born. So what does that mean? How could she have been searching for me before I actually existed?

On my arrival on the Citadel, a series of events led to me joining up with C-Sec, as Garrus Vakarian's partner. Garrus and I have become firm friends over the two years, both at work and out of it as well. Garrus has saved my life on more than one occasion, I returned the favour by taking a bullet for him at one point. Over the course of my two year C-Sec career, big events have been stopping an elcor serial killer, ending a plot to poison the red sand supply, being shot and technically dying for a minute, and meeting my girlfriend, Rebecca.

But of course, real life doesn't always have happy endings. At the end of our failed investigation into Dr. Saleon, he successfully managed to escape with hostages just like in the game. But this time, he had one extra. Rebecca, out shopping in the Citadel for a ring to propose to me of all things, was targeted by Saleon in an attempt to get me, and he escaped the Citadel with her. Garrus has got the transponder codes for Saleon's ship, the _Fedele_, but they're not going to come up until much later, when (or if) I join Shepard's crew. I've still got the ring, and as far as I know she's still out there…only time will tell if that ring's ever going to get used.

Ah, Shepard. Garrus and I ran into her just after Pallin told us our investigation was over in the Citadel Tower. But what should have been a pleasant introductory conversation turned sour quickly. Seeing Shepard's face caused my vision to flare up, and a figure previously clouded in shadow suddenly appeared in it, falling to the ground mortally wounded on a battlefield with a Reaper's roar of triumph in the background. That person was Shepard.

The world had just come back into focus where I last left off. And now, it's time to continue the story.

* * *

I'm still clutching at my head slightly as everything comes back into focus, the sudden revelation of my vision still whirling around in my mind. Shepard's in my vision. Well…I wasn't expecting that, to say the least, and I'm still reeling from it. The first human Spectre, the one person who's supposed to be the Reaper's end, and I'm seeing her dying in a prophetic vision as soon as I clap eyes on her. Jesus Christ, talk about bad first impressions…but what does that mean? Is the person standing in front of me a dead woman walking? Is this really what's going to happen? Why her? Can I change it? Why the fuck did this vision have to come up at one of the most pivotal moments in my life?

As I gradually regain my senses, I hear Garrus talking in the background, and my gaze is still on Shepard's face as she stares intently at the turian talking away next to me. Here she is, Commander Shepard. And she looks barely like the default FemShepard, which is surprising. Shoulder length brunette hair hanging loose, smallish green eyes, delicate features on what otherwise is a strong face, expression focused yet with a kindness on the edges of her mouth in a slight smile as she listens, giving nothing away but absorbing every detail Garrus is telling her. She's smiling…that doesn't seem like something a Renegade would do. Paragon Shepard would be a dream come true in this situation, but I'm not jumping to conclusions yet. Though the initial impression is…good. Very good.

Of course, she's flanked by Ash and Kaidan, both looking at Garrus as well. Thank God, doesn't look like anyone's noticed my little flash on Shepard there. That could have been very problematic…Ash looks virtually the same as she does in the game, apart from the fact she's a real, living human being standing in front of me now rather than a few pixels on the screen. Two years in this universe, and it's still a shock to see the Chief like this, hair done up in a tight bob as she surveys Garrus while he talks to Shepard. There's a small scowl on her face as she does so…well, she was never the happiest character, and I imagine losing her squad on Eden Prime is still fresh in her mind, combined with the fact that she doesn't trust aliens much. She was pretty much fine with the alien crew members in Mass Effect, though, so I don't need to worry too much. Although I imagine we're not going to get along too well…considering she's a Christian, I'm an atheist, she doesn't like aliens, my best friend's a turian. Eh, swings and roundabouts. We'll work past it.

Kaidan stands on Shepard's right hand side, face stony and calm like it always was in-game. Ever the professional…his expression's giving nothing away about what he thinks of Garrus, or me, for that matter. I guess only time will tell…

"…were the officers in charge of the investigation into Saren," Garrus is saying, snapping my attention back to the situation at hand.

Shepard folds her arms and leans back a little bit. Here we go, let's see if she's still got Jennifer Hale's voice… "Sounds like you really want take him down," she says, smiling to herself a little bit. Oh yeah, that's Hale alright! Sweetness! Any other voice would have been a tragedy, I swear…

"I don't trust him," Garrus growls next to me. "Something about him rubs me the wrong way." This is all following the in-game conversation wheel rather well…time to screw that up!

"Got that right," I mutter, drawing the gaze of everyone in the area towards me. Four pairs of eyes, one turian, three human, and one set belongs to Commander Shepard. That really has a way of knocking you off your stride in a conversation… "Well," I mutter, desperately grasping for whatever words I was thinking of before, "he is a bit of bastard." What? Why the _fuck _did I say that, of all things!

Shepard raises an eyebrow, then laughs a little bit. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. That could have backfired a lot…Kaidan smirks, even Ash breaks into a little smile.

"Got that right," Shepard grins. "Good to see we're all on the same page." Alright, looks like I'm making friends here…I'm already exceeding my own expectations of this conversation. Awesome!

"It hardly matters," Garrus says, lowering the mood slightly. "He's a Spectre, everything he touches is classified. We can't find any hard evidence."

That's Kaidan's cue to speak up… "I think the Council's ready for us, Commander" he announces, with impeccable timing. Shame, I was just starting to enjoy that talk…still, our respective duties call. We've got a firefight to start in the med clinic, she's got to talk to a prick of a Spectre and a prick of a councillor at the same time. Can't really say I envy her.

"Good luck, Shepard," Garrus calls out as she walks away.

"Maybe they'll listen to you," I shout after her as well. Garrus frowns a little bit as I say it. Whoops, I just stole his line, didn't I…

"I was just about to say that," he grumbles, when Shepard and the rest of the squad are out of earshot.

"Too bad," I reply quickly, not wanting to dwell on it. Note to self, stop stealing dialogue. It's gonna make me looks suspicious, which I need like a hole in the head. "Looks like that's the end of the investigation, then."

"Screw that," Garrus growls. "Michel's got a lead for us, whether Pallin wants to believe it or not. That bastard's got a fucking dreadnought stuck up his arse." I laugh out loud at that, but he just ignores me and keeps going, smiling a little bit. "I doubt Shepard's really going to be able to talk the Council around to her way of seeing things. So, as far as I'm concerned, it's down to you and me."

"Why is it always down to us?" I moan, as Garrus starts striding off towards the med-clinic and I fall into step behind him. "Can't someone else sort out this stuff for a change? For one fucking day?"

"Nope," he grins. "You love it really. If someone else came along and started cleaning up for us, you'd be the first to complain." Aaggh, the truth stings, Garrus. "So," the turian says, changing topics, "what did you think of Shepard? She's a bit of a celebrity among humans now, right?"

I think back to my first time seeing her and everything that entailed… "Well, she certainly leaves an impression," I finally admit. That's something of an understatement.

"That she does," he chuckles. "She's deadly serious about stopping Saren as well. As soon as we've followed up this lead, I'm throwing in my lot with C-Sec and going to talk to her. Still, Shepard's going to need more people than those two humans she has if she wants to stop a turian Spectre." He frowns. "Not that I'm saying humans are weak, or anything."

"No, of course not, you'd never try a low blow like that," I reply cynically, still a little bit shocked by Garrus's little admission about quitting C-Sec like that. I knew it was coming, don't get me wrong…it's just a shock to hear it, that's all. Well, like hell am I staying behind while he runs off on an adventure with Shepard and co. "Seriously though, if you're quitting C-Sec, mate, I'm coming too. I'm not just sticking around C-Sec with Pallin breathing down my neck, not when we both know Saren's guilty as hell."

Garrus looks a bit surprised when I say that, actually stopping in his tracks. "You sure? If we join up with Shepard, you'll be leaving everything behind here. No more regulations, no more C-Sec authority, no more work shifts. Just us, Shepard, and I'd bet more than a few credits there's gonna be a lot of action as well."

I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. "What, you're trying to get rid of me or something?" Shock crosses his features as he opens his mandibles quickly to cook up an apology, but I just shake my head and laugh, which shuts him up. He's so socially inept sometimes… "I'm joking, Garrus. But Saren's up to something, and I can't just turn my back and walk away."

"I just want to make sure you're certain, that's all," Garrus says. "Though I can't say I wouldn't have been disappointed if you'd just stayed at C-Sec," he continues, breaking into a grin. Aw, this is almost heartwarming…time for an old culture reference!

"We're partners," I say, locking eyes with him and trying to be as serious as I possibly can. "To the end."

I hold his gaze for about two seconds, then start cracking up laughing. I can't help it. Did I really just pull the corniest line from Resident Evil 5 in an otherwise serious situation…Garrus just stands there looking bemused as I gradually control my laughing and breathe normally again. It's not even funny for him, considering it's a massive inside joke on my part!

"What the hell was that?" the turian asks, shock in his voice apparent.

"Nothing, old Earth pop culture reference." He just frowns and shakes his head ruefully. "What? I thought it was funny!"

"No shit. You ever say something that bad again, I'll have to kill you." Ouch, good comeback. "As much fun as this is, Michel's waiting on us. I don't know what it's like in human culture, but I'd hate to keep a lady waiting."

"Right, sorry," I mumble, falling back into place at Garrus's side. That was slightly embarrassing…but totally worth it.

* * *

It didn't take too long to get to the med-clinic. About ten minutes, though it should have been five if it wasn't for the damn slow elevators! I'd always secretly hoped the Council would fix them up during my time on the Citadel, but no such luck. The long wait in the elevator wasn't helped by the fact that I knew that Michel was probably being held at gunpoint while we travelled, and that thought is still gnawing away at my mind as I stand in front of the clinic door with Garrus.

"That's weird…" he mutters. "The door lock is red, but the clinic's well within opening hours."

I could just let Garrus work it out from himself…but I'm gambling with Michel's life doing that and it's not a risk I want to take. Time to steer him in the right direction.

"Garrus, how important is this information? Did she say in the message she sent?"

"She said it was sensitive stuff, and that it was vital we saw it as soon as we could. Why do you…" His eyes suddenly widen. Good man! He's not a detective for nothing. "You think someone's come to get their information back?"

I'm already opening up the hack module on my omni-tool to get through the door. Fortunately, it's not a difficult hack, and I gain control within a few seconds.

"That's what I'm thinking." The door light flashes green. Shit, I hope that's not given it away from inside the med-clinic…thankfully, there's no gunshots from inside. I think we're clear…for now. "Information brokering is a big business, and if this information is really that important…" I shrug. "You do the rest."

"What, you think it's the Shadow Broker?" Ooh, close, Garrus, but no metaphorical cigar.

"I don't know yet," I mutter. "We can find that out afterwards. Right now, we need a plan."

"Alright." He looks thoughtful for a second, before his head suddenly snaps back up. "Open the door slightly, and we'll both go in low, take cover behind the counter. If they've got her at gunpoint, we wait for an opportunity, then take it."

"That's it?" Is this seriously what he thought before launching his one man assault during this part in Mass Effect 1? That would sound fucking crazy if I didn't already know it's going to work!

"You got a better idea?" I shake my head. "Then get the door open, nice and slow. I'll go in first, you follow behind." Okay, here goes nothing…I press a few buttons, and the door slides open silently, leaving just enough of a gap for Garrus to get through and more than enough space for myself. So far, so good. Garrus hurries in as quickly as he can, keeping low and his footsteps quiet, and I follow suit. As soon as we're both through, I shut it behind us. I can see the thugs surrounding Michel, a few pointing their guns. Alright, that's stage one of the master plan executed. Now to wait for that opportunity…we both head up the counter without being detected and adopt cover positions behind it, simultaneously drawing our pistols. I raise an eyebrow at Garrus, but he just shakes his head. We wait.

* * *

Three minutes, still nothing. Garrus is growing impatient, and I'm starting to feel my legs cramping up. Damn, this could be a no show from Shepard. Now what? I didn't exactly prepare for this kind of eventuality, so we're a little bit screwe…

One of the thugs must have gotten a little aggressive, because Michel suddenly squeals. "I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" She sounds almost on the verge of tears…poor girl. Still, this should be Shepard's cue to enter. And right on time, the clinic door slides silently open, and the Commander herself walks through the door, eyes narrowing as she takes in the situation before her. Well, here goes nothing…god, I don't like hostage situations. My thoughts start to drift back to Rebecca, but I clamp down on them hard. Now isn't the time. Michel's in danger, and I can't afford to get distracted. Plus, I need to prove to Shepard I'm good enough for her crew…and I've already planned out my course of action for that exact purpose.

"That was smart, doc," the main thug growls, wearing his eyepiece almost identical to Garrus's. That's so not cool…no wonder Garrus seems to take such delight in blowing a hole in that guy's head, I'd certainly feel fine about it if he was wearing the same T-shirt as me. "Now if Garrus and Ian come around, you stay smart." Hey, I just got referenced! I'm actually having an effect on lines in canon! That's cool now, though the implications are a little bit disturbing…I hope I haven't accidentally changed anything major the whole time I've been here. Shit, stay focused, Ian!

"Keep your mouth shut or we'll…" the merc finally twigs on Shepard, grabbing Michel by the neck and pointing his gun at the Commander. "Who are you!" he shouts, as the other thugs draw their weapons as well. Alright, get ready…

"Let her go!" Shepard shouts back, the sheer force of her voice a sharp contrast with the kinder tone she used back in the Citadel Tower. In the corner of my eye, I see Garrus edging to the corner of the cover. This is feeling awfully like a game of Time Crisis. The 'Wait!' command is flashing at the moment…

Garrus leans out of his cover, executing the goon holding Michel with a perfect headshot. He walks out, pointing his pistol at the other thugs, who start heading off to the cover on the far side of the med-clinic. Two hide behind the pillars there, one's still standing right in front of my cover…alright. Action!

The beauty of this universe is I'm not restricted by a game engine. Meaning, I can do a whole lot of shit that previously wasn't possible in-game. I bring one hand up onto the counter and vault over, launching a two footed kick at the thug in front of me. Said kick connects with his face with a solid crack, causing him to drop his gun in shock and start clutching at his face. I grab him by the collar, and spin him around so he's in-between the guy's firing at me from the pillars as I rush for cover, dragging the guy with me. The first two shots from the enemies shooting at me hit my human shield's kinetic barriers, and the third goes straight through them, leaving a gaping hole in his chest. I drop the corpse as I reach the cover on the far side of the room, getting ready to lean out and start finishing the job. That was one hell of a risky move for me, though, considering I've only got an extremely weak shield over my jacket, t-shirt and jeans, but if that's what it takes to impress Shepard…

Speaking of which, the N7 soldier has already sprung into action during my little manoeuvre, blue light flaring up around her before she launches what looks like a warp at the thug adjacent to me, colliding with him at huge speed and sending him straight to the deck. Ah, so she's a biotic! I guess we'll see whether it's Vanguard or Adept later on…I've got my fingers crossed for Adept, anyhow. Kaidan and Ashley double-team the last guy, Kaidan pulls him out of cover biotically as Ash gets ready to shoot him with her assault rifle. Suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, there's a huge roar as something large and resembling a lizard comes charging past my cover wielding a shotgun, and shoots the floating thug in the chest with it at almost point blank range. There's a sickening noise as the shells tear through flesh and bone, leaving an absolutely huge mess over the wall and floor as Kaidan lets the body fall. I've never seen a shotgun used in this universe before…and fuck me, that was disgusting. But on the bright side, looks like Shepard already managed to get Wrex signed on, and all the fun that's going to entail.

The krogan in question whirls around, frown firmly set on his stony face.

"I signed onto this mission to kill a turian, Shepard, not help one," Urdnot Wrex growls, deep voice reverberating around the room.

Something tells me this is going to be one hell of a crew to work with.

**A/N: Alright! Chapter 1 is done! This is the kind of length you can probably expect for most chapters…actually, the majority will probably be a bit longer than this. Yay!**

**So, next time will have Garrus and myself being brought into the cue, the inevitable chasing down of Tali, Shepard's Spectre inauguration and maybe even Ian's first glimpse of the Normandy!** **Fun times ahead!**

**Of course, your reviews are more than welcome. Hope that's got it off to a good start for everyone…see you next time!**


	2. Ian vs The Crimelord

Chapter 2

Muse: Time Is Running Out

**A/N: And we're back! First off, I was blown away by the amount of feedback last chapter. 25 reviews? Say whaaaaat? So big thanks to you all for that, let's keep it up! **

**Alright, so we left off last time with Wrex's line just after the med-clinic fight. And to clear up some ambiguity caused by that line…as far as this fic's concerned, Shepard's already told Wrex about Saren and he's agreed to help. It's a minor detail, you'll live.**

**This is also my longest chapter…so some minor errors may have slipped through the net.**

**Well, time to go kick Fist's ass!**

Shepard shoots Wrex a disapproving look, which the krogan battlemaster just shrugs off. I haven't really talked to many krogan in my time here so far, so seeing one as big as Wrex up close is…intimidating, to say the least. I'm just glad he's on our side, not the other way around, the way he shotgunned that guy just there was pretty fucking brutal. Still, he seems to have retained his gruffness and understated humour from the game, which means we should be able to get along fairly well in theory. Hell, I probably would have laughed at his turian line back there if it wasn't for the fact I'm supposed to be Garrus's friend! Wrex picks up on the fact I'm unconsciously staring at him, and sends a scathing glare my way. Yeah, I think getting along in theory is going to be completely different in practice. Mass Effect 1 was programmed so you could make friends with Wrex, no such safety here. Hoo boy, this is gonna be a lot of fun…

"Never seen a krogan before?" he grunts, still holding my gaze. The sound of his voice knocks me out of my stupor, leaving me to panic about how to reply. I can't break eye contact, that's gonna make me look weak, and I can't try to be funny because I doubt Wrex is going to appreciate that just yet…

"Sure, I've seen my fair share, but never shotgunning someone quite like that." That seems like a fair reply, I guess.

"You humans are weak," he mutters. "Be grateful I didn't go for his head if you thought that was bad." His gaze travels away from me, as he starts striding back across the room towards Shepard. He walks by me, knocking his arm into my shoulder as he comes past. My instinct's to move out of the way, but I hold fast, lightly pushing back with mine. He still knocks me a bit, which isn't particularly surprising considering the krogan's sheer size and bulk, but I imagine that might win me some points with him regardless for holding my ground…I resent being called weak, but then again bitching about it to him probably isn't going to help with that image. I always liked Wrex during the games…so there's no way I'm giving up on talking to him just yet. Still, does he have to be so fucking stubborn? It's just fucking _rude, _I swear, not that he probably cares.

Shepard's already headed up to Garrus after Wrex and I had our little 'chat' after she checked the perimeter, so I follow up and stand by Garrus's side, facing Shepard, Kaidan and Wrex. It's weird, considering I was on the other side of that conversation back in my universe…though I better start getting used to that, considering it's going to be happening quite a bit now.

"Perfect timing, Shepard!" Garrus says, grinning to himself a little bit. "Gave me a clear shot at that bastard." Shepard frowns when he says that. Oh yeah, she's definitely a Paragon, alright. A Renegade would have already been gushing about how it was 'her pleasure' or something, not looking annoyed.

"What were you thinking?" she says, not raising her voice but making her tone scathing. "You could have hit the hostage!" I didn't even take the shot, and I feel _terrible _when she says that. Looks like Shepard certainly charismatic…and as far as I'm concerned that's a pretty good thing. Especially for Wrex when we get to Virmire, though I'm not hedging my bets just yet…

"There wasn't time to think, I just reacted," Garrus starts stuttering, clearly caught completely off guard by Shepard's comment. Of course, he probably thought he was doing the good thing by his standards… "I didn't mean to…Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," the French-Canadian replies. "Thanks to you. All of you." My imaginary Paragon score just went up…

"I know those men threatened you," Shepard says, softening her tone now to be persuasive. What a pro… "But if you tell us who they work for, we can protect you."

"They work for Fist," Michel mumbles, after a gap of about a second as she makes her mind up whether or not to spill the beans. "And…they wanted to shut me up. Keep me from telling Garrus and Ian about the quarian."

The quarian? Of course, Tali comes to Michel as well, doesn't she…well, isn't this all falling into place rather well?

"The one I told you about, Shepard," Wrex mutters. Yep, that confirms it, all right. I'm pretty sure this means we'll be paying Fist a visit as well before we get to Tali…wow, two gunfights in one day. Working with Shepard is really going to get hectic, that's for sure.

"If she's got this many people after her, I'm betting that quarian's got something important," I say, already knowing I'm right. "Considering Fist sent people to shut Michel up, maybe it's about Saren and the geth?"

"There's no way the Council can ignore this!" Garrus raises his voice, anger starting to creep in. Wow, calm your passions, mate…

"Time we paid Fist a visit," Shepard smiles. Ah, good to see she's not an uptight Paragon, then. Principled, yet approachable. Yeah, I like that. A lot.

"This is your show, Shepard," Garrus starts to say, speaking quieter now then before. "But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

"I'm with Garrus there, Commander," I add, throwing my hat into the ring. I'm not sure whether or not it's appropriate to start calling her Shepard yet…safer with Commander for now. "If Saren's really involved with the geth, which for the record I'm pretty damn sure he is, I'm not letting him get away with this!" I put as much passion into the words as possible, locking eyes with Shepard as I say it. The one thing bugging me is the fact Shepard can actually turn Garrus down to join the squad in the game…Shepard's been Paragon so far, but what if she really doesn't trust turians? And what would that mean for me?

"You're a turian," Shepard says, eyes narrowing slightly. Wow, perceptive, ain't she? "Why do you want to bring him down?"

"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was really going on!" His voice has got louder again…he is really freaking hardcore about getting Saren, isn't he? "Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!"

Shepard raises an eyebrow, slight smile playing on the edge of her lips at Garrus's words. Looks like she's convinced…

"And you, Ian?" she asks. Wait, what? Oh shit, I wasn't prepared for this! "Why are you out for Saren as well?"

"He's obviously up to something," I say, after a moment's hesitation, "but there's no way Garrus and I can do anything about it, not at C-Sec." The words are flowing now, thick and fast as I get more and more into what I'm saying. Years ago, this was all just a game, but now this whole Saren situation is a real part of my life, and I'm feeling real anger as I talk. "If he's responsible for Eden Prime and the geth attacks…" I subconsciously bunch my hands up into fists, then loosen them off as I gradually calm down again. "He's got to pay, Commander. Garrus is right, he's a traitor to the Council and the turians, and I'm not letting him get away with it."

Shepard looks thoughtful for a second, then grins wide and steps forward, reaching a hand out for me to shake. "You've both made your case. Ian, Garrus, welcome aboard."

Holy crap, that's it…I'm on the Normandy crew. Those two little words, 'welcome aboard', and that's it. No more C-Sec, no more nine til five routine…I'm feeling trepidation at what's to come, but it's overpowered by the strong feeling of excitement rising up through my chest. I reach out and shake Shepard's hand, a little bit surprised at how strong her grip his. They don't make N7s to be weak, mind. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a whole course on how to shake someone's hand at whatever Academy she went to…

"Thank you, Commander," I say, not wanting to gush but unable to help myself. Garrus follows suit, shaking Shepard's hand after I'm done.

"You're not Alliance, are you Ian?" Shepard suddenly asks. Wow, that seems like a bizarre question…

"No…why?" I reply, raising an eyebrow.

"If you're not an Alliance soldier, then don't call me Commander, alright?" She grins, presumably because of the look of surprise on my face I'm obviously not doing a very good job of hiding. "It's just Shepard, please. I'm guessing you'd rather it was Ian than Detective or something, right?"

"Yeah, definitely." I'm smiling now as well. Okay, Shepard is already officially the best boss, ever. She seems laid back enough with her friends, but a pretty terrifying adversary for her foes, as she demonstrated pretty damn well in that fight a few minutes ago. Note to self: stay on this woman's good side. Having someone relaxed in charge now certainly makes a refreshing change from Pallin, though. Of course! Now I'm with Shepard, that means I won't be reporting to that bastard any more! Awesomesauce! Shepard thanks Michel for her help, and assures her that she'll be looked after, before we all head out the med clinic and towards Chora's Den.

"Ian, Garrus," she suddenly says, after we pass by Emily Wong and she gives Shepard a quick wave. "You should get to know the rest of the squad." Of course, because technically I shouldn't know who they are…damn, I really need to remember that I'm supposed to be ignorant about a whole lot of shit going on here!

"Yeah, sure," I reply brightly. "Where are we beginning?"

"I'm Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko," says the man himself, giving Garrus and I a friendly smile and stepping forward to shake each of or hands (or talons, as the case may be). "Good to meet you, Ian, Garrus."

"Kaidan's a biotic," Shepard explains. "Like me, except he's got tech skills as well." That comment makes it sound awfully like Shepard's just got the biotics. Alright, looks like we've got ourselves an Adept! Singularities are gonna be useful then, that's for sure…

"You been with Shepard long, Kaidan?" Garrus asks the biotic. Kaidan seems to have reacted to us both like I expected, friendly, but not really giving anything away. I suppose I'll find out more the further we talk on the Normandy…

"Yeah, since the start," Kaidan replies. "Shepard's a real leader, that's for sure. We're lucky to serve under her." Can't deny he's got that right.

"Chief Ashley Williams," a familiar voice and face says, stepping forward with her hand outstretched to me as well. "Good to have you aboard, Ian." She's got a tight lipped smile on her face as she says the words, implying that while she's not complaining there's an extra squad member for the Normandy, she's not exactly jumping for joy either. Garrus doesn't even get a handshake off her, but at least she acknowledges him with some eye contact and the same smile as she gave me. Well, she doesn't trust Garrus yet, but at least she's not being openly racist or anything. So far, so good, I guess.

"And this is Urdnot Wrex," Shepard says, introducing the krogan who's been striding along next to us without saying a word so far.

"I think we've already met briefly," I say, smiling to myself a little bit. "It's Wrex, not Urdnot, right?"

"Yeah," he mutters, barely even looking at me when I say it. "Urdnot's the clan name, Wrex is my name."

"Clan Urdnot?" I ask innocently, trying to at least engage in some kind of dialogue with the reclusive krogan. He doesn't seem to want to talk to Garrus, probably due to some turian/krogan hostility, and the feeling seems to be mutual for Garrus, who's already in a conversation with Shepard and Kaidan while Ash strolls a bit ahead of the rest of the group. I don't fancy walking along in awkward silence, so looks like talking to Wrex is my only option. This should be…interesting.

"What, you think the name's funny or something?" the krogan growls, glaring at me. "Urdnot is the strongest clan on Tuchunka, and you're trying to make a joke out of it?"

"No!" I hold up my hands out of a mixture of exasperation and worry that Wrex is going to sock me one. "I've just never heard of krogan clans before, that's all."

"You humans wouldn't," he scoffs. "Leave the krogan to their affairs, human, and we'll leave you to yours."

"I have a name, you know," I point out. This is probably testing Wrex's patience…but the last thing I need to appear to be is a pushover. "It's Ian. Would you like me to start calling you 'krogan' instead of Wrex?"

He smirks a little bit when I say that, grunting the krogan equivalent of a chuckle. "Fine, will you leave me alone, _Ian?_" Ah, touché. "You really want to talk, we can do it back on Shepard's ship. Right now, I'm getting ready for a fight and dealing with Fist. If you want my advice you should do the same."

Well, doesn't look like this is going any further. But still, he agreed to talk more on the Normandy kind of, so…result?

"Alright, Wrex. I'll, erm…leave you to it?" He just grunts, turning his head away from me and surveying the surrounding going past us as we walk along. That could have gone a lot worse, I suppose. Yeah, I'm happy with that. Not exactly firm friends yet, but I'm sure we can work on that later, right?

Seeing I'm done talking to Wrex, Garrus excuses himself from talking to Kaidan and Shepard and drops back to walk by me. It'll be interesting to see how the turian's taking all of this, actually…looks like he's hit it off with Shepard and Kaidan already, which is pretty sweet. Especially talking to Shepard. I wonder if anything's there for them, if not now then maybe later on…though the option for a romance isn't even there until Mass Effect 2. Then again, I guess things can change without code dictating what's going to happen…hmm, something to ponder. Or not, considering Shepard's love life isn't really any of my damn business. Well, if Garrus or Shepard ever ask me about the other, I'll play matchmaker. But only if they come to me.

"So, how are you getting along with our krogan friend?" Garrus asks me quietly so Wrex doesn't pick up on what he's talking about.

"Fantastic," I mutter back. "Though at least he's talking to me. I'm picking up a lot of turian and krogan hostility between you two."

"I always thought krogan were all savages," the turian muses, sounding thoughtful. "But, I don't know, he seems…different. Do you know what I mean?" I nod, smiling to myself a little bit. Well, as long as Garrus is prepared to be open-minded about Wrex, that's all I can ask for.

"You're already friendly with Kaidan and the Commander, then," I observe, trying to gauge his reaction. Unfortunately, what with turian faces being rather less expressive than a human's, it's difficult to judge. Damn.

"I guess," he shrugs. "We were just talking about the raid on Chora's Den, actually. I figured Fist's going to be waiting for us now that the med-clinic plan didn't work out, so my suggestion was going in hard. There's six of us, and with the element of surprise we should be able to overpower whatever guards he's got set up there." Of course, now that there's no forced three-man squad mechanic, we can just burst in there as a six-man unit. Or a four-man, two-woman unit, if you want to be pedantic about it. Well, that's certainly going to make things a hell of a lot easier! Even if friendly fire's going to become a bit of a concern with that many bullets and biotic attacks flying around…though I'm sure it'll be fine, we're all professionals, nobody's going to shoot me on purpose. Except maybe Wrex. Don't think about it.

"And what did Shepard think?"

"She agreed. So did Kaidan," Garrus grins, obviously proud of himself. "We reckon putting Ash and Wrex in first to cause chaos while Kaidan and Shepard use biotics and we provide ranged support, maybe tech if we need to." That's pretty well thought out, actually. Playing everyone to their individual strengths, forcing the enemies to play the situation how we want it to go…pretty clever, Garrus. Looks like your dossier about being a tactical genius isn't bullshit after all!

"Sounds good," I say. Garrus is in his element here, planning assaults, getting ready for a fight…we were wasted at C-Sec, I swear. "Nice to see Shepard's ready to take advice, as well. She's not one of those really stubborn military types."

"Yeah, I like that," Garrus chuckles. "When we were talking about who to send in first for the assault, she made this little joke about how we just needed to set Wrex off by himself and just watch from a safe distance. Turian military, everything's deadly serious, that would never have happened. I think I could get used to this."

"So do I." I say simply, not needing to elaborate on it. It's the simple truth. Shepard turning out this nice a person, yet still a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, is perfect. Almost perfect, anyway, if I hadn't had that vision of her dying…I'll need to reflect on that later, though, as we're closing in on Chora's Den rather quickly.

Shepard suddenly brings up a closed fist, the universal 'hold' command, and the team stops in their tracks. Looks like she's going to be laying out the plan for everyone…interesting, yet another thing you don't see in the game. Then again, I'd be surprised if she'd just expected us to improvise.

"Alright, let's not spend any longer doing this then we have to," Shepard begins, furrowing her brow as she speaks. Also looks like she hates waiting around before action…she's perfect, I swear! "Wrex, Ashley, you'll go in first. Chora's Den is small, so use those shotguns and focus on pushing enemies out of cover for the rest of us. Kaidan and I will use biotics to just generally wreak havoc." I could swear there's a mischievous glint in her eye when she says that… "Ian, Garrus, you provide ranged support with sniper rifles, pick off the people Wrex and Ash push out, and use tech if we need it." She claps her hand together, clearly glad that's all out the way. "Any questions?"

Wow, that's got to be the fastest mission briefing, ever. C-Sec would have taken at least ten minutes to tell us all that. Okay, I officially love my new job. Even if it's a bit more dangerous than C-Sec ever was.

"Why are we waiting?" Wrex mutters, seemingly to himself but loud enough for most of the group to pick up on. Shepard just smiles, and draws her pistol, the rest of the squad following suit with their respective weapons. I reach over my shoulder and grab the stock of my sniper rifle, sliding it out and pressing the button to fold the weapon out, almost taking Kaidan's eye out in the process. Whoops, need to be a bit more careful…

Shepard heads to the door control, hovering her finger over the control as everyone gets ready. Wrex and Ash stand side by side, shotguns out and ready to rush in. Kaidan, Garrus and I line up on the walls either side of the door. Alright, looks like we're ready. Shepard raises three fingers, then lets one drop. Two seconds. Another finger down. One second. Her hand closes, and she stabs at the door control with her free hand, Wrex and Ashley charging in as soon as the doors open, already opening fire with their shotguns at the bartender behind the counter. Shepard and Kaidan file in soon after, Kaidan blasting away with his pistol, the Commander already flaring up her biotics for an attack. Looks like it's time to do my thing!

I drop to one knee, lifting the rifle scope to my eye and following Wrex as he pushes forwards on the attack. The only two words to describe what he's currently doing? Absolute carnage. His shotgun tears chunks out of barstools and furniture as he mercilessly advances on the thugs, causing them to dart out of cover to get away from the enraged krogan bearing down on them. Which, of course, is perfect for me.

I line up on running thug in my sights and squeeze the trigger, sending a round straight through the man's chest and dropping him. Wrex absolutely nails the other guy, grabbing him by the neck as the thug tries in vain to escape, lifting him up and putting the shotgun to the guy's head…oh fuck, no!

I try to tilt my head away, but Wrex has already pulled the trigger, chunks of…_something _flying from what's left of the human's head. Holy shit, he wasn't lying when he said I'd wish he'd never do that…the krogan in question turns his head to look at me, giving me a wink. Oh, for fuck's sake, Wrex!

No time to dwell on that, though, as one guy starts shooting at me from up high, bullets chiselling away at my weak shields. Shit! I duck behind cover just as my kinetic barriers go down, literally feeling the heat of a round as it zips past my arm and impacts the floor next to me. Damn, I need to get some decent armour soon…the shields I've got at the moment barely last three pistol shots. It's like having to play the game on Insanity while everyone around me is on normal. God, that's such a bad analogy…but the point still stands!

Recharging my shields gives me time to survey the battlefield. I'm amazed to see Ash is causing almost as much destruction as Wrex, despite her seemingly diminutive stature compared to the huge krogan battlemaster. While Wrex generally tears everything apart, Ash is much more subtle but no less effective. Forcing the enemies to move as she places grenades in consistently perfect locations and pins others down with shotgun bursts, she's racking up quite the kill total, and the stragglers are taken down by the combined biotic power of Shepard and Kaidan. Kaidan lifts one unsuspecting thug into the air, Shepard uses her biotics to pick up a barstool and smack it into the goon's head at an insane speed, the crack of his neck breaking as the impact happens audible to everyone in the room. And for those survivors left over, they get a sniper round to the head, courtesy of Garrus. My shields recharge fully, giving me the opportunity to pop out of cover, take a second to line up my sight with the guy in the elevated position.

Boom, headshot. The guy does an incredibly dramatic half-flip off the raised platform he's on, faceplanting the floor with an audible smack. Everything suddenly goes quiet as all the gunfire. Looks like that's the first part of the fight over.

And holy crap, that was…_amazing. _Pure, unadulterated destruction, carried out with the kind of mastery that would put even the finest artist to shame. Admittedly we were taking down some small time thugs…but the point still stands. Together, we're pretty much unstoppable. Even if I did only get the two kills…still, I imagine that's going to change when I actually get some decent shields.

"I think we got them, Commander," Ash announces, sliding her shotgun back into place. Shepard takes a quick glance around, then holsters her pistol. I place the rifle back on its magnetic strip on my back, but keep one hand on my pistol. I know what's coming up next…and if Shepard doesn't have the charm skills necessary, I don't want to be caught off guard.

"Good work, everyone!" Shepard says, taking a quick glance around to check the squad's okay. Doesn't seem like we picked up any injuries from our side…Wrex has a massive fuck-off grin on his face, presumably because of the amount of killing he managed to get done, plus that absolutely brutal kill must have got the bloodlust going. Krogan are just like overexcited kids in some ways…though admittedly most kids don't have a craving for graphic violence bordering on psychopathic.

We head towards the doorway where the workers are going to be standing with their pistols…when suddenly one last thug pops out from behind an overturned table in the corridor, defiant snarl on his face quickly replaced by pure fear as he realises what he's put himself up against. There's a pause of about a second as both parties realise what's going on, before the thug reacts first, sending one shot that's absorbed by Shepard's shield.

It's the only shot he ever takes.

All six of us draw our weapons, I switch to my pistol now, as does Garrus, and open fire on the one guy without mercy. I get three bullets in, Ash and Wrex both get a shotgun blast on the thug, Garrus gets him in the head with one pistol shot, Kaidan blasts him a few times before Shepard rounds things off with a biotic push that sends the already dead thug into the wall at a huge speed, leaving a dent as he bounces off, limbs gone ragdoll as he bleeds out of the countless wounds on him. As one, we all holster our weapons again.

"Overkill much?" I can't help saying, glancing at Shepard. She just shrugs, and keeps walking forward. Ooh, badass! I knew she wasn't a sissy Paragon!

The door opens, and the two workers are standing there, just like I expected. I actually hear Kaidan mutter 'for fuck's sake…' behind me when he sees the guards, which almost makes me laugh, but I hold myself back considering the seriousness of the situation. Time to see if Shepard's a charmer or not…and I'm prepared to bet quite a few credits from what I've seen of the Commander so far she is.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!" one shouts, as they both point their pistols at Shepard. That's actually pretty fucking brave on their part…facing down six people tooled up to the nines and they're still holding their ground. Brave, or suicidal.

"Warehouse workers," Garrus mutters to Shepard. "All the real guards must be dead."

"Stay back, or we'll shoot!" the other threatens, brandishing his pistol around. He doesn't look like he knows what he's doing, at all…shit, I hope he doesn't accidentally shoot someone, that would be pretty bad…

"This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work," Shepard says coolly, fingers casually playing around the handle of her pistol in its holster. Not that she'd even need it to kill them, I guess. Fortunately, the workers get the hint immediately, lowering their weapons and starting to walk out the room past us. So Shepard's charismatic as well as lethal. Good combination!

"Yeah, that's a good idea," one mutters on his way out.

"I never liked Fist anyway," the other agrees as they hurry out of Chora's Den. Poor bastards, I can't believe Fist actually thought they'd be able to stop…anyone, I suppose.

"It would have been easier to just kill them," Wrex points out, as we start our advance towards Fist's office. No-one else speaks up as he says that. Hmm…I may as well.

"Shooting people isn't always the answer," I counter, getting a little smile from Shepard when I say that. Yay!

"Wish it was…" Wrex grunts as we all reach Fist's door. That gets a laugh from everyone in the party, even Ash smiles a little bit. Ah, we're having fun already! Even if that fun's based on massacring a crimelord's guards and destroying his property…fuck it, Fist deserves it.

The door opens into his office, just as Fist himself yells at us.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" he shouts, heading towards cover as we all storm in. Two defensive turrets pop up in the corners, and we all head to cover. Looks like this is where my tech skills are going to come into play… I look over to Garrus, and turn on my omni-tool and start pointing at the turrets. The turian gets the hint straight away, unleashing an Overload on one turret, causing it to fizzle and explode. Kaidan develops a similar plan as well, hitting the remaining turret with an Overload just as I use mine, resulting in a similar outcome. We've got Fist totally outgunned now, and I'll bet he knows it…

"Stop, don't kill me! I surrender!" he shouts from his hiding place, coming out with his pistol dropped and hand raised into the air. We all advance menacingly towards him, forcing the crimelord to back up into his desk, then slide to the floor when he's got no more room to retreat, one hand raised in some kind of pitiful defence. Wow, he's really pathetic, isn't he…

Shepard points her pistol at him, voice taking a steely edge. "Where's the quarian?" she demands, simply.

"She's not here," Fist says, voice calming a little bit. "I don't know where she is. That's the truth." Yeah, I'll bet you don't, buddy…

"He's lying," I point out, though I imagine that's already obvious to everybody in the room. Shepard nods, and takes a step forward, bringing the gun closer to Fist's face.

"He's no use to you now," Wrex says, almost sounding bored at the display Fist is putting on. "Let me kill him."

"Wait! Wait!" Fist shouts, voice taking back on the panic it had a few moments before. "I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where you can find her! The quarian isn't here, said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself!"

"That's not right," Garrus declares. "The Shadow Broker only works through agents!"

Fist stands up, seemingly growing a little bit more defiant. I bet he's not going to be so cocky after this conversation's done with and Wrex has his way… "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker," Fist explains. "Even I don't know his true identity. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set up a meeting up." A small smile forms on his face. "But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Shepard strides up to him, grabbing him by the collar. "Give the location. Now!" Her voice doesn't imply the deal's negotiable.

"Here on the Wards. The back alley by the markets," Fist replies, hurriedly. She's supposed to meet them right now, you can make it if you hurry!"

Out of nowhere, Wrex suddenly whips his shotgun out. Fist barely has time to cover his face…before Wrex blows it clean off. Fuck! I forgot how quickly the krogan reacts after Fist is done talking! That scared the shit out of me! Kaidan and Garrus jump as well, before Shepard turns towards the battlemaster looking absolutely furious.

"What the hell are you playing at?" she demands.

"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him," Wrex replies matter-of-factly. "I don't leave jobs half done."

"We don't shoot unarmed prisoners!" Shepard yells back. Wow, she's getting really pissed off about this!

"How many people died because of him?" Wrex states coolly. "He brought this on himself. Besides, we've got more pressing concerns."

"He's right," Kaidan points out. "That quarian's dead if we don't go now!"

Shepard sighs deeply, before turning around to face us all.

"We'll talk about this later, Wrex," she says, scowling a little bit. "But we don't have time to lose. Everyone head to that alley, double time!"

As one, the entire squad rushes out of the room, as I sprint up ahead with Garrus at my shoulder.

We're coming, Tali. Just hold on.

**A/N: Yeah, my prediction was reaching Tali this chapter, maybe even getting onto the Normandy. But we'll get to all that next chapter, promise! I had all these ideas and dialogue for this that I didn't want to cut to make room, and an 8,000/10,000 word chapter is just too much in one go to write and read. Just keeping you all in suspense :-). This is the biggest chapter I've ever written, to be fair. I didn't think the Citadel events would take so damn long!**

**Well, thanks to everyone who brought the review total up so awesomely high! Thanks so much! 25 in the first chapter is inspirational for me, you guys/girls rule.**

**Right, see you next chapter!**


	3. Ian vs The Ambassador

Chapter 3

Celldweller: Pusuit of the Hunted

I hurtle around a corner, having to push a turian who's walking innocently along to the floor in order to keep my momentum up.

"Sorry!" I yell, not even looking around. My concern's on the quarian who could be killed any minute now, rather than some turian heading in the general direction of a 'gentleman's club'. Shit, that turian's gonna get one hell of a surprise if he does go into Chora's Den…

"Fucking humans!" the turian shouts as the rest of the squad head past him, Wrex bringing up the rear. That makes me look around to shout something witty back…just in time to see Wrex stick his arm out and clothesline the turian as he tries to stand back up.

I really shouldn't be surprised he did that.

Under normal circumstances, I might have laughed, but that's going to just slow me down. Instead, I keep sprinting forward, Garrus running parallel with me as we take another sharp left turn, Shepard barking an order for Wrex to 'hurry the hell up!' behind us as we go. This place looks familiar…I think we're getting close!

"Next right, that's the place," Garrus gasps next to me. Right, that confirms it then. Ignoring the ache in my legs and general exhaustion from how far we've ran, I push forward even faster, sliding around the final corner and practically losing my footing and falling as I go. I just manage to correct the tumble, overshooting the corner slightly but turning it around by making it look like I was sliding into cover. Which is actually a pretty good move, considering the scene up ahead.

I can just see Tali up ahead, talking to that turian I know is lecherously examining her rather than listening to what she has to say. Two salarians stand by some crates nearby, toying with their handguns. Shit, it's gonna happen soon…it would be helpful to have someone hiding in those crates to spring out and surprise attack the salarians, but too bad.

Shepard and the rest of the squad arrive a few seconds later than Garrus and I, and we all hide around the corner. Shepard's frowning, staring at the ground, clearly deep in thought and trying to work out some kind of battle plan. I take another glance around the corner, and see the turian reaching out to touch Tali on the arm, as she bats his arm away and takes a few steps back. Shit, that turian's other talon is going for his handgun!

I look back at Shepard, who's still thinking away. If I act without her permission this early, it could mean I get taken off the crew for not following orders…but if I don't do anything, Tali's probably going to die. Along with all the evidence to get Saren. Well, fuck it, I'm not letting that happen.

I dart out of cover, grabbing my sniper rifle from my back and lifting it up into a firing position.

"Ian!" Shepard hisses. "What the hell are you doing?" I almost turn back at the sound of her voice, and it takes a lot of willpower to disobey her like this. But it's the only way. Suddenly, Garrus creeps out of cover as well, taking up a sniping position next to me. Good man, Garrus! I think he's caught onto the urgency of the situation as well…

"No way," I faintly hear Tali's voice saying. "The deal's off." Here goes nothing…the two salarians start advancing with pistols drawn, as the turian advances again, reaching out with one hand to grab Tali as the other begins to draw the pistol out…

"Oi!" I yell at the top of my voice, causing Tali, the turian and both the salarians to turn toward Garrus and myself. I line up my scope with the turian's head, taking in the shocked expression on his face.

It's the last expression he'll ever make.

I pull the trigger, blue blood exploding out of the exit wound as it drills a neat hole through the turian's head. "Keep your hands to yourself!" I shout, as the turian's corpse falls to the floor. I immediately regret saying it afterwards. Ugh, bad one-liner is…bad.

Tali's not contemplating on my fail at humour though, instead producing a grenade from inside her clothing and hurling it at one of the salarians, the ensuing explosion knocking him off his feet, his final impact of the floor sending a solid crack echoing around the corridor as he lies still. Tali dashes off towards cover as the one remaining assassin starts shooting at her with his pistol. Though shooting at a lone quarian rather than trying to reach some cover is a bad idea when you've got six other people bearing down on you from another direction. As this assassin's about to find out.

Shepard glows blue, bunching her hands together before throwing her arms out, sending what looks like a blue ball towards the assassin…said ball floats in the air next to the salarian, creating a swirling effect as the salarian is drawn inextricably towards it and starts floating around the hovering ball. Of course, a singularity…alright, Adept's for the win! Garrus shoots the salarian in the head from his position, the force of the shot knocking the assassin out of the singularity and sending him crumpling to the floor, where he doesn't move.

"That's all of them," Wrex says, and we all holster our weapons. Shepard walks up to me, anger in her eyes. Oh shit, I knew this wasn't going to end well…so much for staying on her good side.

"What was that?" she asks, angry edge to her voice. "You put everyone here in danger by acting so rashly!"

"Those assassins were about to shoot the quarian, Shepard!" I retort, almost saying Tali rather than 'the quarian' but just holding myself back. Still, I'm genuinely annoyed Shepard and I are having this conversation, since I know I did what I had to do to save Tali. Though to be fair, Shepard's not to know that. "There wasn't time to wait around!"

"It's true," a voice from the centre of the corridor suddenly says, a little shyly. We all whirl around, and there she is. Tali'Zorah. Hood over the back of her mask, figure-hugging exosuit standard to most quarians…same voice, same looks. This is her. She rubs her hands together, suggesting she's a little bit intimidated by everyone looking at her…but she continues anyway.

"That turian bastard was about to kill me, I know it. Your crewman there," she gestures at me, "probably just saved my life."

"Oh," Shepard says, sounding surprised. "I see. In that case, I guess I owe you an apology, Ian."

"It's fine. You're still right, Shepard, I shouldn't have just ignored orders like that." Shepard nods, smiling a little bit. Apology accepted, it looks like! I turn back around to face Tali. Wow, this conversation's already going completely off from what it was like in Mass Effect 1…

"Besides, it looks like you had it under control, Miss…" I leave it hanging there, for Tali to fill in herself, despite the fact I already know her name. Fuck, I hate playing dumb!

"Tali," she says hurriedly. "Tali'Zorah Nar'Rayaa. But just call me Tali, please. The full name's a bit of a mouthful for most people who aren't quarian." Wrex grunts and nods in agreement behind us all. "And believe me, I didn't. It's a good thing you all turned up here when you did. Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!"

"Were you hurt in the fight?" Shepard asks, taking over.

"I know how to look after myself," Tali replies. "Not that I don't appreciate the help." She folds her arms. "But who are you, anyway?"

"My name's Shepard, I'm with the Alliance. I'm looking for evidence that the Spectre Saren Arterius is a traitor to the Council."

"Then I have a chance to repay you all for saving my life," Tali says, sounding a little distant. "But not here," she continues, as her voice suddenly becomes firm. "We need to go somewhere safe."

"We could take her to the embassy, it's safe there," Ash perks up from behind us. "I bet Udina's going to want to see this anyway."

"I'll bet he will…" Shepard mutters, shaking her head. Oh, so it looks like she doesn't like Udina much…that makes two of us.

"Alright," Tali agrees. "I'm with you. Just lead the way."

"We'll take a rapid transit to the embassy," Shepard decides. "I'll take point. Kaidan, Wrex, make sure we're not being followed." A little bit paranoid, as well…I can certainly relate to that. We advance down the corridor, everyone a little more relaxed now Tali's safely with us. This is going to be one fun conversation with Udina when we roll up in his office, especially when he sees all the people Shepard's brought with her…

###########

"You're not making my life easy, Shepard," Udina says as we all walk in, looking out of his office over the Presidium. Firefights in the Wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you have any idea how many…" He swivels around, stopping mid-sentence with his mouth hanging slightly open as he takes in the crew Shepard's brought in with her. I just suppress a laugh at Udina's expense. It's always good to see him get punked by one thing or another…

"What is this, Shepard?" he demands furiously. "I sent you out with two squad members and you come back with four more? A turian, a krogan, some human I've never seen in my life and a quarian? It sounds like the start of a bad joke, for goodness sake! What the hell are you up to?"

"I'm making your day, ambassador," Shepard says calmly. "You asked me to get evidence, and here it is. This quarian has information linking Saren to the geth."

"Really?" Udina replies, cynically. "Maybe you'd better start at the beginning, Miss…" I bet Tali's getting sick of telling people her name now…

"My name is Tali." Yep, she's sounding impatient alright. "Tali'Zorah Nar'Rayaa."

"We don't see many quarians here," Udina says, still sounding offended just by Tali's presence in the room. God, what a dick! "Why did you leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my Pilgrimage. My rite of passage into adulthood," Tali starts explaining.

"Pilgrimage?" Shepard asks. "Sorry, I've never heard of it before." Jesus Christ, here we go…time to pretend to absorb information I already know. Almost makes me want to go back to shooting people like earlier today.

"It is a tradition among my people," Tali begins. "When we reach maturity, we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Alone we search the stars, only returning to the Flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way, we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood." I nod my head subconsciously along with her words, taking in the sights and sounds of the Presidium around me. It is pretty this time of day, isn't it…

"What, you've heard of it?" I hear Tali say. I swivel around, to see everyone's eyes are on me. Fuck, she must have picked up on me nodding my head like an idiot!

"Erm…yeah." God, this is awkward. "Why?"

"It's nothing." She sounds quite amused. I bet she's laughing at me under that helmet… "Most humans haven't heard of the Pilgrimage, that's all. Anyway, during my travels I began hearing reports of the geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious. I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world." Kaidan whistles quietly under his breath when she says that. Damn, that is pretty impressive…and pretty dangerous. I waited for one to become separated from its unit. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core."

"I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defence mechanism," Anderson suddenly speaks up. Ah, hello there Keith David, hiding in the corner!

"So how did you manage to preserve the memory core?" Shepard asks, curiosity aroused. Tali's actually not a bad story-teller, now I think about it…sure, I've heard all this before, but she still manages to make it interesting for me this time around.

"Please, my people created the geth. If you're quick, careful and lucky small caches of data can sometimes be saved. Anyway, most of the core was wiped clean, but I managed to salvage some things from its audio banks." She opens up her omni-tool, and presses a few buttons to start the playback. Here we go…

"Eden Prime was a major victory!" Saren's voice says on the recording, the quality low and scratchy yet unmistakeably him. "The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"Well, that's blatantly Saren." I say. "I've talked to him once before, and it's not the kind of voice you just forget."

"I agree," Anderson says, sounding quite excited. "This proves he was involved in the attack!"

No shit.

"Saren's not getting out of this one," Shepard growls. She is getting _pissed_, which is just what we need…

"Wait, there's more," Tali interrupts. "Saren wasn't working alone." She presses the playback button again, and it runs through the same dialogue as before, then continues further with a new voice. Of course, Benezia…

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." The asari's voice purrs. Poor, indoctrinated Benezia…God, it must suck to be her.

"I don't recognise that other voice," Udina says. "The one talking about Reapers."

"What, are they some kind of alien species or something?" Shepard asks.

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a highly advanced machine race that existed fifty thousand years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished." Not quite true…the Collectors are still out there, and technically they're re-written Protheans…but I'm getting ahead of myself. "At least, that's what the geth believe," Tali finishes.

"Sounds a little far-fetched," Udina mutters. He would say that, wouldn't he. Miserable sod.

"The vision on Eden Prime…I understand it now!" Shepard says, sounding excited. "I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers!" Well, good to see one of us understands the freaky visions we're getting!

"The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back," Tali explains.

"Great, the Council are going to love this…" Udina grumbles.

"The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them!" Shepard says, defiant in the face of Udina's cynicism. Man, she's going to be in for a nasty surprise when she does mention the Reapers to the Council…

"No matter what they think about the rest of this," Anderson says, trying to be diplomatic, "those audio files prove Saren's a traitor!"

"Anderson's right," I point out. "The Council needs to know all this, right now."

Udina glares at me when I talk. "Nobody asked you for your opinion!" Charmed to meet you too, ambassador…

"Don't talk to my crew like that, ambassador!" Shepard shoots back, ire raised. "He's one of the main reasons this quarian's standing here right now, so his opinion is very much valued here!" I can't help but smile, because of both Shepard's fierce defence of me and the gobsmacked look on Udina's face.

"Fine," he says, sulking a bit. "We need to get to the Citadel Tower and see the Council then. What are you going to do about the quarian, Shepard?"

"I have a name, you know!" Tali protests, sounding pissed off. "It's Tali!" Udina is such a fucking jerk, I swear to God! She turns to Shepard. "You saw me in the alley, Shepard, you know I can hold my own! Take me with you!"

"Aren't you on your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asks. Fair question, I suppose.

"The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?" she asks, though it's a rhetorical question. Wrex looks set on answering it, but Shepard cuts him off.

"I'll take all the help I can get. Welcome aboard, Tali."

"Thanks," she says, sounding relieved and slightly surprised Shepard agreed. "You won't regret this." Alright, that's the full squad compliment from the Citadel. Only person we're missing now is Liara…though we can do without a socially awkward asari for the time being.

"Anderson and I will go and get things ready with the Council," Udina says. "Shepard, when you're ready meet us up there." He scowls at the rest of us. "And DON'T take your entire crew with you. Two people accompanying you should be more than sufficient." And with that, Udina turns on his heel and walk out of the office, Anderson following close behind.

As soon as the door closes behind Udina, there's mutterings from almost everyone in the crew. Ash mutters 'what a bastard…', Garrus shakes his head, Tali calls Udina a 'bosh'tet', and Wrex says that he'd like to do something to Udina that I don't quite understand but sounds extremely painful.

"Thanks for defending me there, Shepard," I say to her once we're done laughing at Udina's expense.

"No problem, Udina's a prick," she grins. "It's nice to shout at him for once, rather than the other way around."

"I should thank you as well," Tali suddenly says, walking over to stand next to me. "I feel sorry that your race has to be represented by that man."

"So do I," Shepard replies, shaking her head. "Udina's so far up his ass sometimes it's a miracle he's kept his job for this long."

"He's a bit like our old boss at C-Sec, right Garrus?" I ask, looking over to the turian.

"Don't get me started." Garrus laughs. "The similarities are definitely there, that's all I'm saying."

"Executor Pallin?" Shepard asks, sounding surprised. "Really? I'll have to go and pay him a visit."

"I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about Ian and myself…" Garrus mutters.

"Speaking of uptight assholes, I should probably head off and meet Udina, now." Shepard announces, getting back to business. "And only bring two of you, this time."

"Who do you want to come with you, Commander?" Kaidan asks, standing to attention.

"Ash, Kaidan, you're with me. When Udina said he only wanted two squad members, I'm going to read between the lines and say he wanted the two squad members who both happen to be Alliance. The rest of you should head back to Anderson's ship, the Normandy. It's at the spaceport near C-Sec." She turns to look at Garrus. "You know where that is?"

Garrus nods. "Good," she says. "I'll message ahead to let them know you're coming." Alright, looks like I'll be getting my first glimpse of the Normandy! Sweetness! "I'll meet you all back there once we're all done with the Council." She starts to head out of the office's door, Ash and Kaidan following behind her.

"Good luck with the Council this time, Shepard," Garrus shouts after her. She waves without turning around, and the door slides shut behind the three of them. I turn back around to survey the turian, quarian and krogan looking at me. Garrus, Tali and Wrex. God, who'd have known I'd be in this situation three years ago…

"Alright," I say, trying to sound enthusiastic, "you know the way, Garrus, so you take the lead!"

"Great," Wrex mutters. "I can already tell this journey's going to be so much fun."

###########

We're walking by the Presidium lake on the way to C-Sec when Tali walks up next to me. For the most part, everyone's been walking slightly apart. Garrus and Wrex seem to be avoiding each other like the plague, Tali and I have been lost in our own thoughts…so if she's walking next to me, it's probably to make conversation. Which is good, I'm interested in getting to know the person behind the mask. I feel a little pang of guilt as she approaches, thinking of the amount of times I romanced her in Mass Effect 2…but I don't have those feelings now. Rebecca's still out there, and I'm going to find her. Forming a friendship with a quarian engineer is not cheating on her!

"So, Ian, is it?" she says, a little shyly. I nod, turning my head to look at her. It's weird, just talking to a mask…though I can faintly see the white outlines of her eyes behind the glass. "How did you get recruited by Shepard? Does everyone here have some kind of evidence against Saren?"

"Evidence, no. It's a more of a grudge against Saren on my part, same for Garrus. He's responsible for the attacks on Eden Prime, and as far as Garrus is concerned Saren's a traitor to the turian people. That's our reason for being here."

"Sounds like you know Garrus well," she observes. "You don't see many turians and humans getting along."

"Yeah, well, we're not many turians and humans." She laughs a little bit at that. "Garrus is…was, my partner at C-Sec. We both worked there as detectives for two years before we both packed the job in today, I still live in the same apartment as him on the Citadel. So yeah, we know each other pretty well." I look over to Garrus, striding ahead, occasionally glancing around but mostly keeping himself to himself. It's still weird having him as my best mate around here…can't say I don't like it, though.

"So, if you don't have evidence, how did you meet Shepard? Did she just walk into C-Sec and ask for volunteers?" the quarian asks, curiously.

"Not exactly," I chuckle. "Garrus and I were investigating Saren's activity, and had a lead to follow up with Dr. Michel at a med-clinic in the wards."

"Oh, Michel…" Tali mutters as it dawns on her how everything fits together. "And she told you where to find me, right?"

"Kind of. She said we needed to see Fist, which we did, _then _we found you. It's weird, if it hadn't been for you seeing that one doctor today we might not have ever met…"

"Yes, and I'd be dead." Tali points out.

"That's morbid, Tali." I smile a little bit. "Didn't have you down as that kind of person."

"I just think we shouldn't look back on the past like that. Sure, it's all a big coincidence, but everything happens for a reason, right?" What, like me being sent into this universe in the first place? There's always a bloody reason…

"Maybe, I dunno. But what's done is done." She nods, and we both walk along in silence for a minute or so before she perks up again.

"So, how did you know about the quarian Pilgrimage?" she asks. Oh, for fuck's sake…I knew that would come back to haunt me!

"What? I just heard about it some time, that's all," I reply, trying to shake the subject. Tali, however, isn't deterred.

"You just heard of it? Ian, barely anyone outside of the Flotilla knows what the Pilgrimage means for us, never mind hearing of it. What's the real story?" She's not gonna give up, is she…God, I hate having to lie like this. I'll try and go as close to the truth as I can.

"Fine. I've got a pretty big interest in alien culture, alright? I know it sounds weird, but there you have it." That's as close to the truth as I'm going to get. True, I only really know about it through the Mass Effect games, but I am genuinely interested in the alien cultures. Hell, those Codex entries paid off for something, after all. "It's amazing what you can find out on the extranet."

"Why quarians?" Tali pushes. For the love of God…

"Well, most people have this idea that quarians are all vagrants and thieves, right?" Tali nods, albeit a bit reluctantly. "But I've talked to a few quarians in my time, and they've all be good people. So I wanted to see what the quarians as a race are really like, what's behind the mask." I quickly raise my hands. "Pun not intended." We're closing in on C-Sec very quickly…Garrus is already heading through the doors as we follow close behind.

"Interesting," Tali muses. "I don't know much about human culture…but it's nice to hear not everyone hates quarians." She glances around, noticing we're drawing close to the elevator up the Normandy. "I've got some omni-tool diagnostics to run before we get to Shepard's ship," she says hurriedly. "It's been good talking to you though, Ian. We should do it again, some time."

"Alright," I nod. "Have fun with your omni-tool!" She mutters something under her breath as we all get into the elevator. Jesus Christ, here we go…this elevator's going to take at least two minutes, and with a krogan and turian this close together something's bound to kick off.

Sure enough, it takes about five seconds for Wrex to address Garrus. "So, turian, how does it feel to destroy a species?" For goodness sake, can he not even be subtle about it!

"It's Garrus, not turian." Garrus replies, sounding annoyed. "And I didn't create the genophage. So you're asking the wrong person."

"But you must have an opinion, turian!" Wrex jibes. "Are you saying your people were wrong?"

"No, the krogan were a menace," Garrus says, voice raising a little bit. "The military didn't murder the krogan, we just limited their development!"

"Phrase it how you want, it's still murder," Wrex replies, bluntly. I look over at Tali, who just shrugs. It's always me, isn't it…

"Do you two want to relax?" I ask, taking a step forward to stand behind them. Wrex and Garrus could probably both beat the shit out of me independently of each other, but neither makes a move. "Wrex, Garrus didn't unleash the genophage on your people. So back off." Wrex grunts something I can't decipher, but doesn't try to make a comeback. "Garrus, Wrex isn't the enemy here. That goes for both of you. We're here to kill Saren, not each other, alright?" Garrus nods, a little reluctantly, and steps back as well. Wow, I can't believe that actually worked! "Thank you," I say, returning to the back of the elevator.

After ten seconds silence, where the elevator seems to be getting no closer to its destination, surprisingly it's Wrex who breaks the silence.

"So, Ian, what's your opinion on the genophage, then?" I almost flip out and tell Wrex to fuck off, but reign myself in. Don't want to ruin a relationship this early…and besides, I know what my opinion is.

"Honestly?" Wrex nods. "I think the genophage was a big mistake, pretty much a war crime. Maybe if the turians and the Council had talked to the krogan first instead of just launching in with bio-weapon, things could have turned out for the better. That said, I wish people would get over it a bit more, turians and krogan alike. Like I said before, it wasn't Garrus who gave your people the genophage, right?"

"True," Wrex says. "It's good to hear there's some sympathy for us. And you're right, the turi…" Wrex stops himself mid-sentence. "_Garrus, _isn't my enemy. I still don't like turians, but I can make an exception." To be honest, I think that's the best we're going to get from Wrex for now. Hell, that's a lot more than I was expecting from the reclusive turian this early, so that's pretty awesome!

Naturally, the elevator arrives just seconds after our 'conversation' is done. "Finally!" I shout, stepping out into the air. "It's about bloody ti…" The sight in front of me stops me dead in my tracks.

The Normandy SR-1.

And my God, the game doesn't even begin to do it justice. It's absolutely gigantic, for a start, stretching out for at what looks like at least a hundred metres, probably more. White and black paint cleaned to a perfect shine, bouncing the light from space all around the space port. The two main guns, huge and imposing on its belly, and 'Normandy' emblazoned boldly across the side, almost like a challenge to any craft thinking of attack.

"Wow…" I hear Tali gasp behind me. This is it. No more living on the Citadel, no more C-Sec. With the Normandy, my old life is left behind. And I've never been more ready.

Welcome to my new home.

**A/N: So, there we have it. Tali is recruited, the Normandy has been reached, and during the events of the chapter Shepard just became a Spectre. The stage is set, the dice has been cast. Almost.**

**We've got a chapter of shenanigans on the Normandy, settling in, getting to know the squad members a bit better, then it's time for Ian's first proper mission. Which one will it be, Feros, Noveria, or rescuing Liara? I'll leave you in suspense for that.**

**And wow, the reviews. Every email telling me I've got a new one brings a smile to my face. And you want to make me smile, right? You can see where I'm going with this.**

**Alright, see you next chapter!**


	4. Ian vs The Normandy

Chapter 4

Jason Mraz: Make It Mine

**A/N: Okay, we're back! So, Ian, Wrex, Garrus and Tali arrived at the Normandy last chapter. Therefore, it's time to get settled in, have a quick chat with the squad members…then next chapter it's down to business!**

**These Normandy chapters are going to become a regular thing, by the way. Usually in between missions, I'll have this sort of stuff happen. But we'll see. Someone asked what Shepard's background story was as well…it's the Spacer/War Hero background. That's right, the awesome one!**

**And sorry it took so long for me to write this chapter, I had a lot of schoolwork plus writing several conversations that don't occur in canon is fairly time consuming.**

**On a random side note: I'm gonna take a wild guess and say a lot of you read Mass Vexations as well. There was that awesome twist recently…so just throwing this out there considering Herr Wozzeck's my named inspiration, that kind of thing won't be happening in Masses to Masses. Not that I'm saying there won't be plot twists, far from it. And I'm jealous I didn't think of it myself ;-)**

**Inevitable mistakes disclaimer: Some stuff might have slipped through, but nothing major like SPELLING TALI'S DAMN SURNAME WRONG! I hope.**

**But enough idle chit-chat (there's plenty of that in the chapter, ironically) let's get to it!**

The sight of the Normandy stuns us all into silence for a few seconds, even Wrex looks pretty impressed. Pretty cool place to call home, even with all the danger that comes with it…suddenly, a lone human walks out of the airlock and heads towards is. Rounded head, military haircut, and a face I'd recognise anywhere. Looks like Pressly's come out to greet us!

"You must be the squad Shepard told us was coming," he says on his approach, addressing all of us but keeping his eye contact firmly with me. Of course, the XO doesn't quite trust our alien friends just yet, does he… "I mean, you don't see many quarians, turians, krogans and humans together." We all laugh, though admittedly it's out of politeness instead of actually finding the joke funny. Except Wrex, who just glares at Pressly for even attempting humour with him.

"I'm Navigator Pressly," he says, reaching out a hand for me to shake. He doesn't repeat the gesture for anyone else, mind, especially not Garrus. If memory serves, Pressly's…grandfather, I think, fought in the First Contact War, which probably explains not trusting turians. Then again, Shepard's a Paragon predominantly, so he should learn. "Shepard asked me to escort you all aboard and get you settled in."

"Do I look like I need an escort?" Wrex asks, toying with the butt of his shotgun strapped to his back. Fair play to Pressly, he takes it like a champ, keeping his facial expression firm and impassive, though admittedly he does take a few steps back from the krogan. For God's sake, Wrex, why?

"If you'll all just follow me into the decontamination chamber, then we can make our way into the ship. We've got an area set up for you all." An area…you mean the damn garage, Pressly. I imagine Shepard, Kaidan and Ash will all have rooms, meaning the rest of us are going to get stuck with sleeping cots. Damn, that sucks! Little sacrifices I have to make for the mission, I suppose…

Everyone tails behind Pressly to the decontamination unit, and all stand in awkward silence as the machine does its thing.

"_Decontamination in progress," _the machine drones, for about the fifth time, and it's starting to grate on my nerves.

"Can you shut that thing up?" I finally ask Pressly, my nerves snapping slightly. First the long elevators, now a big wait for decontamination…why is everything in the future so damn slow?

"That's been bothering me, now that Ian mentions it," Garrus adds.

"It is a bit annoying," Tali also admits.

"If that voice had a face, I'd have punched it by now," Wrex growls. Pressly raises an eyebrow, but otherwise his expression doesn't change.

"I'll see what we can do," he finally says. "People have mentioned it before, I'll admit."

"I'm not bloody surprised…" I mutter. Before things can turn even more awkward, the door into the Normandy finally slides open, and almost everyone in the chamber breathes a collective sigh of relief as Pressly leads us through, offering a running commentary as we go.

"This is the helm," he says as we walk, gesturing towards the multitude of controls surrounding us. I glance around, just in time to catch a quick glimpse of Joker fiddling with a few buttons on the screens in front of him. Wow, it's actually Seth Green…with a cap on. Not that Joker will have ANY idea what I'm on about if I let that slip. Still, I'm gonna have fun with references over there, even if I'm the only one benefitting from that little game.

Which reminds me of the other game I just lost. For fuck's sake!

"Crap, I just lost the game!" I declare, like the rules dictate. Tali, Garrus, Wrex and Pressly give me a weird look when I say that, but to my complete surprise I hear one of the crewmen nearby to me mutter 'I lost the game,' to his buddy next to him, who frowns and punches the crewman in the arm. People still play the game in the future? It's been like a hundred and seventy years, and there's STILL not a winner? Meh, go figure. Pressly takes it in his stride pretty well, though, and we continue through the CIC, past the galaxy map.

"That's the briefing room through there," Pressly points out. "Shepard usually talks to the squad through there before a mission, and it's got a communications link for vid-conferencing as well." That's going to come in handy for the Council bashing us after every mission…still, I imagine Shepard's got a few comebacks lined up for the turian!

Pressly heads downstairs, pointing out the elevator and med-bay as we go. So far, so…boring. I'm practically hopping from foot to foot in desperation to just dump my stuff wherever I'm sleeping and start getting to know the crew! So many conversations are going unsaid at the moment…and it's not like I've even got any stuff to store away, bar my weapons!

Fortunately, Pressly seem pretty eager to get rid of us and get back to his post not having to look at aliens, ushering us all into the painstakingly slow elevator down to the lower level. Fortunately, Wrex doesn't feel the need to start berating Garrus, or anyone else for that matter.

"This is the garage area," Pressly announces. "Feel free to make yourselves comfortable in here." We all turn to look at him. I raise an eyebrow, Garrus's mandibles widen in shock a bit, Tali folds her arms and Wrex…is just Wrex.

"Is that a joke?" Tali asks. Oh hush, girl, wait until you see what's through the doors behind us…

"I'm afraid not," Pressly replies, though his tone of voice doesn't exactly imply regret. "Hmm…" he suddenly looks thoughtful. "You have some engineering experience, correct?" he says briskly, turning his gaze back to Tali. Oh, here we go!

"Yes," Tali replies, sounding a little surprised at the question. "Why?"

"The drive core's right through there," Pressly informs her, pointing to the doors by the elevator. "I imagine you might be able to help the engineering crew through there, if you want." The offer's made, I suppose, albeit in a rather begrudging way…I bet Shepard told him to do that in the message she sent! Pressly couldn't give a shit at the moment whether Tali's entertained or not, I know it!

"Really?" Tali's voice switches from slightly distrustful to excited immediately at the sound of that. "Of course! I'll go and get settled in!" And with that, the quarian immediately disappears through the doors, little spring in her step. Aw, that's sweet…and I guess I know where to find her if we're going to talk later. Awesome!

"Actually, I might be able to do some work around here as well," Garrus says out of the blue, as I swivel my head to see him staring at the Mako over in the corner. "I reckon that Mako could probably do with someone looking after the maintenance for it." Oh no, this is the start of his love affair with calibrations, isn't it! NOOOOO! Damn you, Systems Alliance, for putting things that can be calibrated on the Normandy! Pressly nods at Garrus's words, a little bit hesitantly. I imagine Shepard didn't pop that one in his briefing, but he's not really got any reason to turn Garrus down on that, except the whole xenophobia thing. He'll get over it.

"I might just go with Garrus, if that's alright," I say. Pressly perks up a bit when I talk, as the only human in the group.

"That's fine," he smiles, obviously glad that there's going to be a human there to make sure the turian doesn't fuck up the Mako too bad. Poor, misguided Pressly, Garrus is a pro at calibrations, don'tcha know! He turns to look at Wrex. "So, what are you going to be doing?"

"I think I'll stay over there," Wrex replies, pointing to a stack of crates. Pressly looks surprised.

"But…that's just a load of crates. What are you going to do on them?" Sheesh, overreact much?

"Not sure yet. Maybe lean on them," Wrex replies in his monotone voice, though there's a hint of sarcasm in it as he towers over the Navigator. "I'll be sure to keep you posted, though."

Pressly takes the hint and backs off towards the elevator, as Wrex heads over to his place and starts leaning on the crates, giving Pressly a cold stare. "Right," the XO says, a little nervously. "I'll leave you all to get settled. The sleeping area is the floor below this when you need it." There's a floor below us for the sleeping area? I don't remember visiting that in Mass Effect 1…then again, why would BioWare have included that area? It would have been crap! And with that, the elevator doors shut, giving me just enough time to catch the relieved look on Pressly's face that appears slightly prematurely. Garrus looks over to me, but I just shrug as we both head over to Mako. Pressly's entitled to his opinion, I suppose…even if it's wrong.

"Amazing ship," Garrus mutters as we walk along. "Really shows what humans and turians can accomplish when we work together."

"Got that right," I reply. "Apparently, humans and turians working together can accomplish huge amounts of property damage, explosions and general chaos working together as well."

"True," Garrus laughs. "It wasn't all fun and games, though. We still had all that red tape to deal with, then there was Pallin, plus Saleon escaping was…" he stops mid-sentence, knowing we're straying into the wrong territory with this conversation. Good of him to do that…considering the high I'm on right now after getting aboard the Normandy, I don't need thinking of Rebecca to drag me down. Still, there's one thing bugging me…

"Anything from those transponder codes you got for Saleon's ship?" I ask. I know nothing's going to have shown up, but I want to make sure we'll know as soon as it does.

"Not yet," Garrus replies regretfully. "But he'll slip up eventually. We'll find her, Ian. Don't worry about it." I know we will…it's the state she's in when we do get to Rebecca that's worrying. Shit, I need to stop dwelling on this subject.

"So, first impressions good?" I say, brightening my tone of voice and trying to smile. Garrus seems to be encouraged by that as he livens up as well. It's the little signs, his mandibles widening just the right amount, the little glint in his eye…I know when he's happy, and those signs are there right now.

"Very," he eagerly replies. "It's a beautiful ship, crew seems efficient enough, though I can't say I'm too keen on that Navigator." Fair enough. "And this Mako should keep me more than occupied. You?"

"Pretty much the same, truth be told," I reply, non-chalantly. "Didn't really have too much time to take stock as we walked in." Not strictly true, considering I know this place inside-out thanks to my Xbox glory days, but Garrus summed up my thoughts anyway. Except about one thing… "I don't see the fun in calibrating my way through my spare time, though. I'm gonna have a look around, talk to the rest of the crew."

"Okay," Garrus replies, omni-tool already open as he starts to run a diagnostic. It's like I don't even exist… "I'll be here if you need me."

"I'm sure you will…" I mutter as I walk away. Wrex chilling over in the corner catches my eye, so I suppose talking to him is probably going to be a good start. Get the hardest part out of the way, at least.

"Alright, Wrex?" I ask, on approach. The krogan looks up, but says nothing. Well, at least he acknowledged my existence! "How are you settling in?"

"Fine." He replies, then just stares at me.

"You ever heard of conversation? You know, you set the other person up for a reply?"

"I didn't realise we had much to talk about," the krogan replies. Fucking hell…

"You're C-Sec, you worked with a turian for two years, and as far as I can tell you don't seem the strong type."

"See, now we're having a conversation! Admittedly, not the best topic, but still…"

"We don't have to do this, Ian," he just growls. Good point… "I'm just telling you what I think."

"Rather that than have you bitching behind my back like an adolescent girl, I suppose," I reply. Wrex looks confused.

"You humans must have different adolescence to us," he says. "For krogan, it involves a lot more violence than what you humans would understand or be used to."

"Really?" I ask, folding my arms. "Try me."

"To become an adult in our culture," Wrex starts to explain, "you must overcome a Rite of Passage." Ah, of course, I'm already familiar with this after the whole Grunt affair in ME2… "It's a long process, but it involves slaughter, surviving a Thresher Maw attack, and a high chance of death. Is that similar to your experience?"

"No, I actually had a party during mine. It was nice, lots of cake, presents, alcohol, candles, happiness. You should try it sometime, rather than that Rite thing."

"Weakness, humanity is filled with it," he snorts. "You tried that on Tuchanka, you'd be killed."

"I didn't realise the krogan hated cake so much," I reply, raising an eyebrow. Wrex lets out a chuckle at that. Holy shit, I made him laugh! Progress!

"I think it goes a bit deeper than that," he admits. "But the point is still there. I grew up with hardships you can never imagine."

"True," I concede. "But isn't that irrelevant?" The krogan frowns. "I mean, I try to define myself by my actions now, rather than my past. Just because I wasn't brought up like a krogan doesn't make me a weakling, right?"

"Oh, really?" Wrex asks haughtily. "Have you ever fought a Thresher Maw, Ian?"

"I'm not saying I'm some kind of badass warrior like you're supposed to be, Wrex. But I've seen my share of violence. I've blown up a spaceport before trying to kill an enemy, taken out almost an entire mercenary band with just Garrus helping me out…it's not a Thresher Maw, but at least it's something!" Hopefully that'll impress him a bit more…

Wrex looks thoughtful for a second, then his previous focus returns. "I'll admit, Ian, that's better than I was expecting. You didn't handle yourself too badly when I saw you fighting, even if you need to deal with gore a bit better."

"That was the first time I'd seen anyone do that!" I protest. That's hardly fair! "I was shocked rather than utterly disgusted!"

"Regardless," Wrex continues like he never heard me, "it is what you do now that I have to judge you by." A small smile forms on his face. "You're not too bad, for a human. Not up to Shepard's standards, but you've still got to be a little bit brave to come along on this kind of mission, and keep pushing conversations with a krogan. A lot of humans just run when they see a krogan this close to them, but you're…different. Not like those people at C-Sec who flinched whenever I opened my mouth. You still seem weak to me, but it's bearable."

Holy crap, this IS going well! Except for that 'weak' comment…

"You know, I still resent being called weak," I say. "But I guess I'll just have to prove otherwise to you, right?"

"Good luck with that," Wrex says. "But you're alright by me, Ian. Just don't get in my way during the fighting, and we'll be fine. I'd hate to kill you by accident, even if you are annoying." Yeah, _surrre _you would…

"You think I'm annoying?"

"This is exactly what I'm talking about…" he grumbles. "Quit while you're ahead, Ian."

"Okay," I reply quickly, holding up my hands in surrender. "Good advice. I'll see you around, Wrex."

"Alright," he says as I walk away. "Talking to someone's going to keep me sane with a turian halfway across the room from me…"

That makes me chuckle a bit as I walk through the door into the drive core to go and visit Tali. The faint hum that's audible throughout the ship drives into a deep bass sound as I step through the door, the tight corridor leading through illuminated blue slightly as I walk…then I step through into the main chamber, and the sight takes my breath away.

It's more beautiful than the Normandy itself. I mean, it looked awesome in the game, but this…blows everything I've seen before out of the water. Words can't even begin to do it justice, the pulsing blue orb and almost hypnotic movement of everything going on around it, it's like the ship's pulsing heart, and it's epic as hell.

"Ian!" Tali shouts over the dull noise, as she sees me come in, and waves at me. I walk over to her, still knocked off my stride slightly by the sight next to me.

"Alright?" I grin, when I reach her.

"You're looking happy," she observes. "What is it?"

"What is it?" I ask incredulously. "I don't know, maybe that thing right next to you!"

"The drive core? Is that the first time you've seen one?" I nod. "Sorry, it's just hard for me to believe that growing up near these all my life on the Flotilla. You kind of get used to the sight of it after a while."

"As far as I'm concerned, Tali, that looks awesome," I say, a tad too enthusiastically. "I can think of worst things to grow up around. Wrex was just telling me about his younger days, actually…"

"I really don't want to know," Tali groans. "At least the drive core's peaceful, which I doubt's the same as what he had to deal with."

"Got that right," I agree, taking my eyes back off Tali visor to look into the drive core again, and she follows suit. "It's weird how quiet it is…I was expecting it to be a lot louder than this."

"So was I," she says, sounding a little bit annoyed. Of course, it's too quiet for her, isn't it… "Normally, drive cores are a lot louder than this, especially on the Fleet where we've got technology from years back. But this…" she gesture with a hand at the element zero sphere. "Almost brand new, most advanced tech available. Barely makes a sound, which is disconcerting. I'm used to the noise on the Flotilla, and this is…" she stops mid-sentence, folding her arms. "Sorry, I'm just trying to think of an idiom for it that you'll understand."

"It's freaking you out?" I ask. Tali nods enthusiastically.

"Something like that," she says. We stand there in silence for a few seconds, but not the awkward kind. It's more pleasant than anything else, as we both look into the drive core. Pretty… suddenly, a random thought pops into my head. Shit, I hope Tali's not going to get too sensitive about this…

"So, since we're going up against the geth, what's it like from your point of view?" I ask. Please, take this well… "I mean, I know the quarians made them and everything…" Her body language isn't suggesting she's taking this like I'd hoped. "Look, I'm not judging the quarians here, Tali, but I'm just interested to see what it's like for you as a quarian. You know what I mean?" Tali still looks tense for a few seconds…then relaxes. Phew.

"I suppose that's fair," she admits. "You know how the whole geth revolution came around, right? With your culture studies?" I nod. Looks like that excuse is going to pay dividends, actually. Now I don't have to play stupid! Awesome! "Right." She nods. "As far as I'm concerned, the geth need to be stopped. These machines stole out homeworld, Ian. I already know how it feels to have that privilege taken from me, having to live on a ship for almost all of my life. There not a way in the galaxy I'm going to let the geth do the same to everyone else in the galaxy. The geth were a mistake, one the quarians suffered for. But no-one should have to. Is that what you were expecting?" Her tone had started out icy, but now it's more of a softer, emotional sound as she really gets behind what she's saying.

"Kind of," I eventually reply, nodding slowly as I mull her words over in my mind. "I knew this would be a big thing for you, but…well, that sounds pretty selfless, thinking of the rest of the galaxy like that."

"It comes naturally," she shrugs. "On the Flotilla, you have to think of the whole community rather than an individual if we're going to survive. I don't see why that shouldn't apply here." Tali's really one of a kind, isn't she…

"Wish there were more people like you," I say, truthfully. "Galaxy would be a much happier place, rather than all the inter-species hostility we've got going on instead."

"What can you do?" she asks, rhetorically. Hit the nail on the head there, Tali. "I can think of quite a few people who'd rather the galaxy wasn't filled with community-minded quarians, as well."

"True," I laugh. "Pisses me off how people think of quarians, though. It's not fair."

"You and me both," Tali agrees. "It's interesting to see someone who looks past the stereotype of our people. But life's not fair, Ian."

"You're such a downer." She giggles a bit when I say that, then the conversation stops again. I wonder if Shepard's getting back soon…hell, maybe I could go and see Joker while I'm waiting! That should be fun, if I can suppress the instinct to just call him Seth…

"I've got some work to do on the core now," Tali announces, ending the conversation for me anyway. "It's good talking to you, Ian. I'll see you later?"

"Looking forward to it," I say, making my way out of the door again and immediately regretting the way I said those words after I leave. I mean, I know myself I'm not flirting with Tali, but what if people see it differently? People really overanalyse conversations sometimes, see things that aren't there…we're friends, but nothing more. Rebecca's still out there, but just talking to a quarian engineer isn't cheating on her. As far as I'm aware, unless the rules have changed from 2010 to now. Shit, I'm worrying about this too much…fuck it; I'll go see Joker, that should calm me down.

############

It was an interesting ride up to see Joker, mainly due to the announcement going out over the com system as I went up. Shepard arrived back as I was heading up, giving out that epic speech she does after getting back onto the Normandy after she's made a Spectre…so now, the ship is completely under her control. Anderson's 'stepped down', thanks to bloody Udina, and apparently our first destination's going to be Feros. Dealing with indoctrinated colonists, a shitload of geth, and zombie plant things should certainly set the pace for the rest of the missions, after all! A shotgun would be useful…but I've got a plan forming in my mind for an alternative for more firepower, provided I've got enough credits for the dude selling weapons in the garage. Annoyingly, when I got to Joker, it turned out he was too busy actually piloting the Normandy to talk…which meant now I'm heading back down to where Kaidan should be standing, to try and befriend the Lieutenant. And of course, he's standing right there, exactly like I expected. This should be interesting…

"Hey Kaidan," I say, going up and leaning on the wall opposite him. Kaidan swivels around, looking pretty surprised.

"Oh, Ian, you shocked me," he breathes out, looking a bit relieved. "How are you settling in?"

"Good," I smile. "It's…an experience." I mean an experience seeing it for real…but Kaidan doesn't need to know that. "It's a beautiful ship."

"Glad you like it," he smiles. "I was amazed first time the Alliance showed me what I'd be serving on. Now Shepard's in charge as well…I can't think of a better place to work."

"Feeling's mutual," I reply. "Beats C-Sec, that's for sure."

"I'll be it does," Kaidan chuckles. "Don't think it's going to be easy, though. It's going to get dangerous out there, so I hope you're ready." Oh, if you think it's going to be dangerous now, Kaidan, wait until we get into the second half of the Ilos mission…

"I was born ready, Kaidan," I reply. "Just because I'm young, doesn't mean I'm not ready for this."

"Wasn't trying to say that, Ian, just checking you know what you've gotten yourself into," he says hurriedly. Aw, he cares about being polite! Sharp contrast with a certain krogan the floor below us…

"I know, mate. Relax, I'm just messing around." Kaidan raises an eyebrow when I say 'mate'. Of course, considering everyone around here seems to be American except for Chakwas…

"You've got an interesting accent, Ian. British, right?"

"Yep." I nod. "Seems like we're a rare breed around here."

"Not exactly," Kaidan laughs. "Blonde hair though, that's rare." Oh God, I should have known that from the Ascension novel, shouldn't I…fuck, already raising Kaidan's suspicions! "Do you dye it?"

"Natural blonde," I shrug, trying to change the topic. "Just got lucky, I guess. But more importantly, Kaidan," I say, leaning in conspiratorially, "what was Shepard's Spectre inauguration like? Unless that's classified, or something…"

"No, it's not." He smiles. Good, that takes the spotlight off my past… "Interesting, sure. I was expecting more pomp and ceremony, but all the Council members just said a few words each…and that was about it. I hate to say it, but it was almost anti-climatic. Still, I'm sure it's going to come in useful, so can't complain." Anti-climatic? I guess I know why that is…

"Kind of situation that could have done with some epic incidental music?" I ask. Kaidan looks surprised at my little suggestion, before smiling and nodding.

"Yeah, I think that would have helped," he agrees. "Still, the turian councillor was glaring at Shepard the entire bloody time. Not exactly the best of way of it happening, but at least it's out of the way now. And Shepard's exactly the right person we need heading up this mission against Saren."

"From what I've seen, I can't disagree with you there, mate," I nod. "Saren doesn't stand a chance."

"That's the spirit!" Kaidan grins. "Sorry to cut this short, Ian, but I've got some stuff to be getting on with…"

"No problem," I wave it away with a hand gesture. "I'll talk to you later, Kaidan."

"You should get ready for the mission on Feros, by the way," Kaidan shouts out as I leave. "I think Shepard's impressed by the initiative you showed with Tali, so I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to take you out with her."

"I'll bear that in mind. Cheers, Kaidan!" He give me a nod, and turns back to his terminal. Well, looks like that just about confirms I'm on the ground squad…in that case, looks like I'll be visiting the supply guy after all! Plus I've got Ash to talk to…yeah, looks like I'm heading back to the garage. I wouldn't be surprised if Shepard was down there already talking to the rest of the crew…yep, that works for me! Ridiculously slow elevator, go!

############

"Ian," Ashley says as I walk towards her, not sounding I'm overly enthusiastic I'm coming to see her but not pissed off either. "What can I do for you?"

"Just coming to chat, Ashley." She visibly cringes when I say Ashley…oops!

"Ground rules, it's Ash or Chief, Ian." Ash says strictly, but she's smiling as she does. "Unless you want me to start calling you Detective or something." Oh, hell no!

"Right, I'll bear that in mind, _Ash._" Ah, so far, so good. "How's tricks down here?"

"Not bad," she admits. "It beats the kind of work I was doing on Eden Prime, anyway, the routine security checks. At least, until the geth crashed onto our planet and killed my squad, so I can hardly complain about boring routine." She's such a little bundle of sunshine, isn't she…that's not fair, actually, losing your squad like that would be pretty traumatic. That was wrong of me to think.

"You can't blame yourself, Ash," I say, trying my best to be comforting. "The geth caught everyone by surprise, you did the best you could."

"Shepard said something like that too," Ash chuckles bitterly. "And I'll tell you the same thing I told her, the geth have flashlight heads, Ian. It's a struggle for them to take you by surprise." True, true…God, sorry for trying to be nice! "I've dealt with it, and I'm ready for duty wherever the Commander needs me. The less I dwell on it, the better." That's me told, then…

"Good policy," I say. "Seeing as you're the Chief Gunnery Officer and all, I've got a question about my weapons, if you don't mind."

"Sure," Ash smiles. Ah, talking about guns seems to have perked her up! "Fire away." I hope that pun wasn't intended by her…

"Well, I've been thinking from a firepower point of view, I've only got my sniper rifle and pistol, right?" She nods. "But I've been thinking, I can shoot well one-handed with my pistol anyway, and in close quarters I could do with the extra fire rate, so…"

"You want a second pistol?" She finishes the sentence for me. Fuck, I hate it when people do that! Ash has hit the nail on the head, though, to be fair…

"Exactly," I say. "But I wanted the professional opinion first." Ash thinks it over for a bit, looking me up and down as she does.

"You look strong enough to cope with two handguns at once," she finally says, slowly. "And if you're sure you can still shoot straight…" I nod enthusiastically. "Sure, I don't see why not." She announces. Alright, result! "Just don't go too gung-ho with it, alright? I'd rather not be the one bringing back your remains if you try charging a geth colossus with those."

"I'll bear that in mind," I say sardonically, my previous thoughts about her being 'a ray of sunshine' coming to the forefront of my mind again… "I'll go and buy it now, then. Thanks, Ash."

"No problem," she says. "I've got some weapons to prepare anywhere pre-mission anyway. Talk some other time?"

"Sure," I smile, then turn on my heel towards the supply guy. "See you." She turns back to her weapons, humming under her breath as she does so. Alright, akimbo pistols! It's going to take all of my willpower not to try firing two guns while jumping through the air now, because that's not going to end well…but if the opportunity comes up, I'm all over that!

The merchant bloke looks fairly pleased to have a customer when I show up, setting me up with an identical pistol to the one I already have in the interests of continuity. It was a pretty lacklustre shopping trip, none of the 'whaddya buyin', stranger?" I was hoping for from a merchant after I'd played Resident Evil 4…though I'd probably be more surprised if that had happened. I just finish up the credits transfer, and turn around to see Commander Shepard standing just behind me. I almost jump, but just hold myself back. Doesn't look good if you freak out when you see your commanding officer, never mind a geth trooper…

"New pistol?" Shepard asks, pointing to the weapon in question resting on the floor next to me.

"Not exactly…" I say, attaching the second holster to my belt and sliding the second pistol into it. I don't even have to worry about reloading as well, just the overheat function…this plan just gets better and better! "I figured I could do with some more firepower, and Ash and I came up with this as the best solution." Shepard raises an eyebrow.

"That's…unorthodox," she finally says. "But whatever suits you, Ian. We'll find out if it works soon enough, anyway. You're on the ground team for Feros."

"Thanks, Shepard," I reply, big smile on my face. Being picked for the ground team straight away…I like it! Even if the mission on Feros is going to get pretty hairy, pretty quickly…nothing I can't handle, though. I hope, considering I'm not exactly talking from experience shooting mutant zombie plant things. "Who else is on the squad?"

"I'm bringing three others," Shepard explains. So that's a team total of five! Of course, without the 1s and 0s restricting her Shepard can do as she damn pleases… "Garrus, Wrex and Kaidan will be accompanying us as well." Interesting…this'll be an experience. Especially with Wrex and Garrus working together…I hope there's not many elevators on Feros!

"That's great, Shepard, I'll go and get tooled up…" I start saying enthusiastically, before I notice a major problem. "Shit, I don't have any armour!" I suddenly realise, facepalming as I say it.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice," Shepard laughs. Oh, you're a sadistic one, Commander! Bloody Renegade streak… "Relax, I've got some sorted for you. Got your size off your C-Sec record, it should be in your locker over by Ash."

"Whatever happened to privacy?" I say mockingly. "You can get onto my C-Sec record?"

"I'm a Spectre," she shrugs. "I can do pretty much whatever the hell I want." Excellent point. "Speaking of C-Sec," she suddenly says, crafty smile forming on her face, "I had a word with that Pallin person you and Garrus spoke so highly of."

"Shit, really?" I gasp. Oh fuck, I imagine that would have been one hellishly fun conversation. "I mean, it was all good things he said, right?"

"Erm…no." Fuck. "He was pissed off you and Garrus resigned, for starters. Then he gave me a massive lecture about what you two had managed to get up too during your time under his command…"

"Jesus Christ…" I mutter. "What did he tell you?"

"That you're a loose cannon sometimes, albeit a highly efficient one, same with Garrus. I think he was trying to put me off…but to be honest that sounds like exactly the kind of person I want on this team."

"Really?" I say, surprised. Renegade streak, indeed…thankfully, it looks like the Paragon morals are there, so we've got the best of both worlds here! "So is that why Garrus and I are on Feros? Checking if we live up to our reputations?"

"Something like that," she laughs. "So, did you really get shot up? Pallin spent at least two minutes ranting about that to me."

"Yep," I say, lifting up my T-shirt to show her the scar, which causes her to wince dramatically when she sees it. "Hey, it's not funny! I was technically dead for a minute because of it!"

"You died?" Now it's her turn to be surprised. "Wow, he left that part out." It'll give us something in common in a year or so, Shepard…God, I'm already not looking forward to that. Assuming I live long enough to see it happen. "I heard the other thing as well," Shepard says, her voice suddenly turning sad and serious. "If there's anything I can do to help find your girlfriend, just let me…"

"It's fine, Shepard, I will," I quickly say. "I don't want to talk about it…not now, just before the mission, alright? Maybe afterwards, if that's okay with you."

"Sure," she smiles reassuringly. "I don't want to push it, whatever. I'd better get ready myself, actually. It's been great talking to you, Ian," Shepard says. "So far, it's been good getting to know all the crew like this."

"Well, my metaphorical door is always open, if you want to talk," I offer.

Shepard laughs. "I'll bear that in my mind. I'll see you by the airlock in an hour, Ian. Make sure you've got all your stuff together."

"Roger that," I say, giving her a mock salute. She grins, then swivels on her heel and strides off towards the elevator. What a boss to have…if I survive our inevitable adventures, I could get to really enjoy this! I head over to my locker by Ashley, and sure enough I've got a gleaming armour suit in there. It seems pretty standard stuff, but I'm sure I can always get it customised when I've got the time…and I'll take some kind of protection with shields and armour here over none entirely.

I check my new pistols, make sure my sniper rifle folds up and unfolds smoothly, then take one quick glance around the garage at everyone in it, my new comrades in arms.

It is SO on.

**A/N: Ugh, that was hard as hell to write! Hope you enjoyed it though, makes it worth the pain I went through thinking up all those conversations ;-)**

**So yeah, we're kitted out with some real armour and badass dual pistols now! That only means one thing, next chapter is Feros! Time to get this party started, or some suitably clichéd phrase like that.**

**69 reviews? You guys are just immature…but on a serious not, that's absolutely fantastic for three chapters. Seriously, words can't do justice to how happy I am to see you all enjoying the fic this much and throwing me a review. I really appreciate it, so thank you all so much! We'll be at 100 before we even know it…**

**By the way, this is about the rate updates are going to come now. Expect maybe two a week, considering they're about twice/three times as long as they used to be, I'm going as fast as I can!**

**Okay, thanks for reading and reviewing, and see you next chapter!**


	5. Ian vs The Colony

Chapter 5

Circa Survive: Strange Terrain

**A/N: These song titles are kind of random, by the way, unless I explicitly say otherwise. Just to give you an idea of the stuff I'm listening to, give you an idea of Ian's taste in music.**

**Feros is going to take a few chapters, probably. I mean…there's a lot to get done with all this, so I'm expecting 4 chapters at about 5,000 words or more? I don't want to try and cram it all in to just one or two chapters, and theoretically this should let me update more often, so it's all good.**

**Anyway, onwards to the mission!**

I'm heading up in the elevator from the garage, Garrus and Wrex on either side of me, all suited up in my new armour. It's quite a nice fit, thank God, and surprisingly comfortable. That said, I still need to get it customised when I get the chance, since the colours are so damn…dull, is the only word for it. But at least I've got an advanced shielding system now, my suit can automatically apply medi-gel to wounded areas, I've got a decent magnetic clasp on my back for my sniper rifle, plus a belt that's actually made for grenades to be attached to, rather than me just trying to clip them onto the leather belt I normally wear with my jeans…so all the mod-cons, basically.

Then there's my two pistols, holsters on alternate sides of my waist, plus a combat knife in a sheath on my back just in case. I'd almost feel badass, if it weren't for having Wrex standing next to me with his multitude of weaponry attached over his body, plus his whole damn attitude to the mission. My first real military mission, and I'm practically shaking with excitement and apprehension. Wrex, on the other hand, looks positively bored. I'm sure he'll cheer up once he's killed something. The ride up is a pretty quiet, tense affair, as we all check and double check our weapons and equipment, but that suits me just fine. I really don't want any kind of distractions playing on my mind before this. At C-Sec, I could make a few mistakes, but now…I don't concentrate, I probably die. It's that simple. God, I'm so morbid…maybe it won't mean I'll die, but still, I want to be focused.

The lift finally reaches the higher floor, and opens up to Kaidan standing in front of it, obviously waiting for all of us to get together before we go and meet Shepard by the airlock. Aw, that's nice of him!

"Everyone ready to go?" he asks, though the way we're all dressed should probably suggest the affirmative. Still, Wrex gives him a gruff nod, and Garrus and I follow suit.

"Good," he says, clasping his hands together. "Let's not keep the Commander waiting, then." Ah, right you are then, Kaidan. The Lieutenant certainly doesn't like to waste time…but then again, neither does Shepard. Wrex and Garrus head out of the elevator, I lag behind a little and walk next to Kaidan, my thoughts still buried in details about the Feros mission, where stuff is going to start kicking off, what the best way of killing a Thorian creeper is…

"Something on your mind, Ian?" Kaidan asks quietly, nudging me gently on the arm and knocking me out of my daydream.

"Nothing," I say quickly. "It's fine, Kaidan." The Lieutenant takes a quick look around to make sure no-one's watching, then sticks an arm out and stops me as we head up the stairs. What the hell?

"Look, Ian, I know this is different to the kind of action you got up to at C-Sec, but it's alright to be nervous on your first mission," he says, quietly. "I was the same the first time I went out there with Shepard, and I still get jitters sometimes. It's not a sign of weakness, even if Wrex would probably say it was," he frowns. "Being cautious isn't stupid, it's the thing that's saved my life more times than I care to mention. So don't worry, we've all got your back. You'll be fine," Kaidan smiles reassuringly at me. Wow…I was actually thinking about how everything's going to play out in advance, Kaidan, so fear of the unknown isn't my problem…though still, it's reassuring to have him say all that to calm my nerves.

"I'm alright, Kaidan, don't worry. Not that I don't appreciate the pep talk, though," I smile back.

"Okay," he shrugs back. "Your C-Sec record is exemplary anyway, kid. I guess you'll be the one watching my back rather than the other way around soon enough." Nice compliment, Kaidan, but…

"Sorry, what did you just call me there?" I ask. He'd better not…

"Kid," he replies, sounding surprised. God, he did! No! That shit is ugly as hell! "Why, is that a problem?" Damn right it is!

"It's a little patronising, no?" I reply sardonically.

"Alright, suit yourself," he says, grinning wide. "_Kid._" What is this? Since when did Kaidan have that kind of a sense of humour? Or a sense of humour at all? Shit, this one fangirl I knew back in 2010 would probably kill me for even just thinking that…

"Not funny, Kaidan!"

"Come on, we'd better not keep Shepard waiting any longer," he says, gesturing towards the airlock. "Just checking you're good to go."

"I was, until you started talking about being nervous." That makes him chuckle as we walk towards Shepard, Wrex and Garrus who are all waiting for us.

"You're late," Shepard observes, but the smile on her face suggests she's just teasing us.

"Sorry, Kaidan forgot to do his hair," I say quickly, before Kaidan can get a word in. His scowl suggests we're all square for the 'kid' comment…karma's a bitch! "We're good to go?"

"Yep," Shepard replies, making sure her pistol holster's attached firmly before turning and looking over to Pressly.

"She's all yours, Pressly!" Shepard shouts. The Navigator turns around and gives her a sharp salute, smiling as he does. Well, so much for Alliance regulations…thank God Shepard's a Spectre! The airlock door slides open, and we all step through into the decontamination chamber, which thankfully doesn't start up.

"Zhu's Hope is a human colony that's been attacked by geth troops, probably sent by Saren," Shepard explains, as we wait for the door on the opposite side of the chamber to open up into Feros. "We're going out there to find out what that bastard's after sending the geth here. And the colonists have had a lot to deal with, so everyone polite and civil when we get into the main settlement!" She looks pointedly at Wrex when she says that, which gets chuckles from around the room. I'm already loosing up a bit…there's five of us, all highly trained…even I've had two years experience, plus hand to hand and weapon expertise learning under Garrus…it's going to be fine. Stop worrying, Ian. That paranoid instinct of mine is still bugging me, even after all this time…

############

At last, the door opens, and we all march out into Zhu's Hope's spaceport. First impressions of the planet…dreary, fairly dull grey colour scheme. Well, at least the planet goes well with my armour.

"Excited?" Garrus asks me as we walk along. "Finally, after all the red tape at C-Sec we can finally get some real things done around here!"

"True," I agree, "but at least red tape wasn't trying to kill me. Doesn't the danger worry you, at all?"

"I dealt with those worries back when I was in the turian military," Garrus explains. "Besides, I've been training you for years now! If you get killed, I'll be disappointed in myself!" It's a morbid joke….but I still laugh. "You'll be fine, Ian," he says, tone turning serious again. "Just because we're not at C-Sec doesn't mean you're not my partner anymore. I'll look after you, you look out for me, right?" From anyone else, that would be so corny…

"Sure," I say, smiling and slapping him on the back, impact with the rock-hard armour absolutely killing my hand. Fuck, that hurt! A human figure approaching us all catches my eye…that's got to be that David guy, right? Shit, my memory of Feros is a little hazy…

"Looks like they sent out the welcome party," I announce to Shepard, who steps forward to greet the colonist approaching us. The layout of this spaceport, the crates lying around conveniently…something feels suspicious. My hands start to stray towards their respective pistols. The fighting doesn't start this quickly, does it?

"We saw your ship," David explains quickly, getting straight to the point as Shepard walks up to him. "Fai Dan wants to speak with you, immediately." He's certainly not bothering with any kind of manners there…hopefully Shepard isn't going to snap her tether at that.

"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asks, sounding a little thrown by the colonist's direct manner. It's a fair question, though, considering I'm the only party member who really knows…and really shouldn't.

"He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare for the geth making another push. Please, up the stairs past the freighter." David explains. His voice is all disjointed when he talks…almost like something's influencing him. Of course, the Thorian's already having an effect…

"Alright…" Shepard says, giving him a weird look. She takes one step forward, but leaps back when out of nowhere gunfire sounds and David gets nailed in the back of the head by an assault rifle round. I knew it!

"Get to cover! Geth at twelve o'clock!" Shepard shouts, pressing against the nearby wall as we all spread out. There's a small outcrop I spot just a few metres ahead of Shepard's hiding place that should give me a good position…time to bring the noise!

I whip out both pistols and start firing at a geth trooper immediately as Shepard focuses on another, whilst I run towards the cover. The recoil is surprisingly low on each handgun, meaning I can fire as fast as I want, which is exactly what I start doing. The combination of running and shooting one handed with each pistol doesn't exactly help my accuracy that much, but I get at least five shots that hit the geth, knocking its shields down and piercing one of its arms. Besides, it's not like anyone's recording accuracy, right? Unfortunately, it's not the kill shot I was hoping for, but I hit cover instead of trying to finish it off straight away as the bulk of the geth turn their attention to me and start chipping away at my shields. For fuck's sake! I huddle in the corner away from bullets, just long enough to my shields back. Alright, time to finish that geth off!

I pop out, handguns raised…just in time to see it executed by a sniper rifle shot. I go back into cover, looking over to see Garrus smiling proudly to himself, rifle raised and scope to his eye. Bloody kill-stealer! Kaidan looks like he's getting ready to move up, so I pop out of cover and start shooting indiscriminately at the geth, laying down some covering fire for Kaidan to dash past me and into the next stone outcrop. I'm not aiming a particularly large amount, focusing more on keep the geth suppressed to protect the LT, but even so I cause some decent damage to some shields. Not bad…

One geth moves out of cover to take an attempt at Wrex, but Shepard's quicker, biotically pulling the geth over the railing and sending it crashing down to the floor an enormous distance below. It's probably a safe assumption that the geth didn't survive a drop that big, especially when it landed on its head.

"Move up!" Shepard yells above the din of the battle, and we all push forward to the corner of the walkway that opens up into a much larger straight section. We've got two geth troopers here…a red coloured shot just goes past my head as I peek around the corner, causing me to dive back in shock. Looks like a geth sniper as well, then! Holstering the pistols, I reach onto my back and grab the rifle as the rest of the squad fire on the regular troopers, one little synthetic death noise confirming another geth casualty. I look back around the corner again, only needing a second to line up my scope before shattering the weakly shielded sniper's flashlight head. Just one left…and Kaidan has it covered, lifting it out of cover. Shepard and Wrex join in the biotic attack as well, in a beautiful team manoeuvre where Shepard exerts a downwards force on the suspended trooper as Wrex pushes it upwards, literally compacting it together. The geth's light finally dies, and Kaidan tosses it off the walkway as well. A weird silence descends upon the spaceport as the gunfire finally ceases.

"Looks like that's all of them," Wrex announces, but Shepard shakes her head and keeps her pistol firmly gripped in her hand.

"No way," she says. "The geth have probably set up all the way to the colony. We're safe for now, but I think real safety isn't a luxury we're going to get on this planet." Good assumption, Shepard…especially considering what's waiting for us in the stairwell ahead. My memory of Feros might be hazy, sure, but the cutscene of Geth Hoppers appearing remains crystal clear in my mind…

We press forward, but everyone's on edge, weapons raised. Kaidan sidles up next to me as we go.

"Good covering fire, kid. I owe you one." I nod, smiling a little bit at the compliment and the fact he's insistently calling me kid now…looks like this is gonna stick. Shepard heads into the stairwell first, Wrex going in after as Garrus, Kaidan and I cover the rear, though I steal a few glances up the stairwell for what I know is coming…

Sure enough, there's a scurrying sound from the area above that causes us all to immediately swivel and aim at the area it came from. We wait a few seconds, but nothing comes of it. That's weird…

"Must have just been a loose…" Garrus starts saying, but cuts himself off halfway as the Hopper finally leaps out towards us from its hiding place, firing at Wrex as another comes out and sprays rounds at all of us together. For a second, there's a moment of panic as we all adapt to the new situation, before we all start shooting as close to the Hoppers as we possibly can as the leap around above our heads. I get a few hits in with randomly aimed shots from the akimbo pistols…these are seeming like an amazing choice the more I use them! Wrex knocks one spinning out of the air with a shotgun blast, while Kaidan tries to get another with his pistol, with limited success.

"Use biotics, Kaidan!" I yell over the din of the fight. He stops shooting with pistol at my words, and a blue aura surrounds him as he pulls the remaining Hopper off the wall and into the void.

"He's all yours," Kaidan growls, words strained slightly through the efforts of keeping up the biotics. We all oblige his wish. By the time every squad member's done venting their frustrations via bullets to the Hopper's face, it's barely recognisable as a geth as Kaidan lets its limp body fall down the stairwell.

"New policy," Shepard gasps, breathing heavily after the fight. Hell, we all are. That shit was tiring! "You see one of those bastards, those of us with biotics use them, alright?" She looks over at me. "Good suggestion, Ian." To be fair, Shepard, I've already been through this before in a way, so I know what tactics to use against different enemies…but still, I'm more than happy to take credit! I give her a curt nod back, and we all head up the stairs, weapons still out. I'm a bit more relaxed, though. The colony should be right up here…

Yep, I knew it. As we all break out into the daylight, the colony presents itself to us. And Jesus Christ, it's a bloody mess. Then again, when you've got a colony built around a downed freighter…that's kind of a given. The ExoGeni building rises up into the sky, of course, as does the defence tower…which we're going to have to clear out, aren't we? It ain't easy being a hero…or at least part of a hero's squad.

"Looks like this is it," Garrus observes. "We should go and see that Fai Dan person the dead colonist mentioned."

"Alright," Shepard nods. "Everyone, weapons away. We don't want to scare any of the colonists."

"I think the geth are already doing that for us," Wrex mutters as we head through the colony. Everything's here…the big crane, ruined freighter containing all the houses…it's almost like a shanty town, in a way, albeit an extremely futuristic one. If it weren't for ExoGeni keeping the economy here going, these colonists would probably be screwed…yet the price ExoGeni are really taking from these people isn't anywhere near worth that. Twisted corporate bastards…I'm going to have to try hard to not lose my temper when we get up there. The walk through is uneventful as we all take in our new surroundings…then we emerge to see Fai Dan and some woman standing next to him. Fai Dan's eyes light up when he sees Shepard, and he beckons us all over. Well, this should be interesting…

##################

"Ah, Commander," Fai Dan says, sounding incredibly relieved. "I'm glad they sent _someone _to help us."

"You're a bit late, aren't you?" The woman next to him asks. Okay, madam, I've taken an instant dislike to you. She's already identified herself as a bit of a bitch…and she doesn't even make up for it like Miranda does by being hot!

"Arcelia!" Fai Dan snaps. "Sorry, Commander, everyone's on edge since…" There's a sudden synthetic growl from around the corner, and we all whip out our weapons and train them on the area the noise came from, including Arcelia.

"Watch out!" she yells, "geth in the tower!"

We all dive into cover as the geth approach, with Fai Dan's shouts of 'protect the colony!' behind us. "Can we not go five minutes without being shot at!" I yell out of frustration as we go. There's only three geth, but it's still pissing me off…

Shepard dispatches the first one with an ease born of experience and sheer talent, bowling it over with an incredibly powerful push that sends it flying into a wall and leaving a subsequent dent where it impacted, as the geth crumples to the floor. Garrus and I both blast away at a geth snipers, the combined power of our three handguns taking its shields down within a matter of seconds, and I finish it off with an Overload from my omni-tool. That leaves one more…there's a roar behind me, and Wrex charges past me towards the remaining geth, shotgun drawn. Okay, that geth's as good as dead.

It gets three shots in, all reflected harmlessly by Wrex's shields, before the krogan reaches it and knocks the trooper straight to the floor, its weapon flying from its hands. It reaches up to try and defend itself…and is met with a shotgun blast that punches a hole in the geth so big it actually breaks in half. Result, geth threat eliminated in less than a minute. God damn, we're epic.

Shepard looks back towards Fai Dan, who gestures towards the tower. "Go!" the colony leader yells. "There's more in the tower! Clear it out first, then report back here!" Shepard gives him a sharp nod, her friendly demeanour gone in the heat of battle, as we all charge in to the tower and start heading up the stairwell.

"Help!" comes a shout from around a corner. Fuck, that's one of the colonists! I barge past Kaidan in front of me and dash up the stairs, pistols drawn to open fire on whatever threat the colonist's under. "Help! I don't want to die!"

"We're coming!" I yell. "Just hold o…" I arrive just in time to glimpse the colonist's relieved face, before an explosion goes off in the corridor and flings his corpse through the doorway, where it comes to rest next to me, the expression of relief replaced with shock as his eyes glaze over. Damn it! The two geth responsible for the explosion line up in the door and start shooting at me. You fuckers…

Wrex pops around behind me and blows one away with a shotgun blast, but I go one step further, moving towards the remaining geth and launching into a side kick that knocks its assault rifle away. The geth takes a step forward at me, launching a clumsy hook that I duck under. They really weren't made for melee combat, were they…it has another go with its other arm, but I duck again and launch a sweep kick while I'm down, knocking it to the ground. It tries to spring back up to its feet…but I shoot it in the head with both pistols as it rises, and the geth sinks back to the ground and the flashlight on its head dies. Having Garrus teach you hand to hand really pays off, it would appear.

Wrex almost looks impressed as we head into the left corridor, though I could easily be imagining it on his normally expressionless face. Fingers crossed it's the former…anything to dispel that 'weak' idea he's got of me! We run around yet another curved corner…straight into the geth line of fire. Oh, crap! I take a few shots on my shields, as I imagine we all do, but I manage to slow myself fairly quickly and dive-roll back behind cover, as the rest of the team follow suit, minus the rolling. An enormous, incredibly weird looking geth ship hovers up above the chamber, visible through the gaping hole in the roof. Or at least what's left of it. There's a pretty big amount of geth out there, meaning improvisation like we've been doing so far isn't going to cut it, so…

"Shepard, we need a plan," I say, as all of our shields recharge.

"Alright," she nods. "Garrus, you give us all sniper support. Focus on the weaker troopers, we'll deal with the big ones." The turian slides his sniper rifle off his back, indicating the affirmative to Shepard's order, leaning out of his cover and firing a shot at some target well of into the distance. That's funny, as the second sniper you'd think that's the kind of job I'd be doing…

"Wrex, use your assault rifle and move up with me, I'll use biotics to draw out enemies." Wrex slams his fists together in apprehension, practically jumping from foot to foot. Damn, it would really help if I got as much of a kick out of slaughter as he did…

"Ian, Kaidan, you two try and flank them. They've got the tactical advantage with the high ground, if we try and pincer them they should lose that in the confusion." Wait, we've got to flank them? In a room almost entirely comprised of open space? Is Shepard trying to kill us off! Kaidan's already getting set to run for cover, but I'm just gawping at Shepard slightly. What the shit…

"You've got your orders, Ian!" she yells. "Go!" Something in my mind tells me it's probably more dangerous going against Shepard's orders then charging a bunch of geth…so I go and stand next to Kaidan.

"Alright," he says quickly as I take position. There's some fallen rubble, about twenty metres to our left. If we run to there, we should be able to shoot at the side of some of the geth, then move around behind the rest when they're dealt with. You up for this?"

"As much as I'll ever be," I respond, despairing at the situation slightly. This is fucking crazy…

"Okay, go!" Kaidan shouts, grabbing me by the shoulder and giving me a helpful push forward. Both of us fire blindly away with our pistols as we run, not caring where we're shooting as long as the weapon's are pointing in the general direction of the geth. We get about three metres before they notice, five before the first shots impact my shields. I keep driving forwards, knowing that taking a look at my shield status is just going to slow me down, praying that they hold…

We get within two metres of the cover, and any second now I'm prepared to feel a round slice through my body. Almost there…one metre, and I hurl myself through the air, rotating slightly to shoot with both pistols as I arc through space and land behind the cover on my side. Did I hit anything? Probably not. Did I look awesome? You bet your ass I did.

Kaidan raises an eyebrow at me when he comes into the cover just behind me, but thankfully leaves it at that. We've got more pressing business to attend to…namely the geth troopers firing at us, though thankfully the geth destroyer is moving in on Wrex, who really shouldn't have any problems there. Kaidan springs up from a crouch and pulls one of the troopers towards us, and I let the bastard have both barrels from my pistols, switching to fire to the other geth Kaidan's shooting at…at least, until a frantic beeping informs me both pistols have overheated. For fuck's sake, maybe I'm being a little bit _too _enthusiastic with this…but still, gives my shields time to recharge and lets me assess the situation we're in. There's only about five out of ten or so initial geth left, though the remaining ones are mainly more powerful models like the destroyer and shock trooper. However, there's now a huge gap for Kaidan and I to sprint to the next bit of rubble and get behind the geth completely.

"Kaidan!" I shout, nudging him to get his attention over the noise of the fight. "I'm going for the next bit of cover! You cover me, then I'll do the same when you make your move!"

The Lieutenant simply nods and starts pouring rounds at geth with a shot on our position, keeping them suppressed in cover. Time to move! I break out of cover again, sprinting as fast as I can towards the rubble I can see about twenty or thirty metres ahead. There's a small rock outcrop closer, but I'm not going to get much cover there…

Just as I go past the outcrop, one geth who decided it _would _be a good bit of cover steps out and whacks me in the face with his assault rifle, reacting with a speed only a geth can. My nose and face explode with pain as my legs sweep from under me and I fall to the floor. The geth stands over me, assault rifle pointing straight at my head and primed to fire. Kaidan's preoccupied, I can't dodge bullets…my hands go for the pistols in their holsters, but I already know its far too late as I see the geth's hand tense around the trigger. I shut my eyes, preparing for the round to tear through my skull…

There's an enormous cracking sound, causing me to instinctively open my eyes to see the geth fall to the ground, large hole in the side of its head.

"_Still want me to stop kill-stealing?" _A flanging voice crackles through into my ear. Garrus…thank God someone was watching my back! But I've still got ten metres to go to get to that cover, and I've managed to draw the attention of three geth…including one with a rocket launcher. I put my hands behind the shoulder, rolling back slightly before pushing up with my arms and springing back to my feet, Chuck Greene style, and starting the run again. A few rounds bounce off my shields…then the unmistakable sound of a rocket launcher being fired makes me duck instinctively. In possible the most terrifying moment of my life, I literally feel the heat of the rocket passing over my head, before I roll into cover, breathing extremely heavily.

"I had it under control," I pant, in reply to Garrus's taunt, leaning out of cover and shooting randomly with the pistols to try and buy Kaidan enough time to run over here as well. One geth comes out of cover to try and shoot back at me…which I bring down with a volley of well-aimed pistol shots, just as Kaidan slides into cover next to me.

"Shit, are you okay?" he asks. "Your nose is bleeding!"

"I'm fine," I grunt back, even though my nose is still throbbing quite a bit. That's it broken again, most likely…Chakwas is going to have fun sorting that out for me back on the Normandy. I slide my pistols back into place and reach for the sniper rifle. "Time to finish these guys off."

Kaidan nods, glowing blue, then looks over the rubble and looses off a warp towards the rocket trooper that sends it tumbling to the floor. I look out as well, scoping a geth trooper firing at Shepard and bringing it down with a body shot. While Kaidan and I were dashing around, the rest of the squad brought down another two geth…meaning there's just the destroyer left. Even with its extra strength and firepower, it's no match for us when completely outflanked and outgunned, and we bring it down in a matter of seconds. As soon as it dies, the geth ship releases its hold of the roof and flies off into the distance, roar of its engines gradually dying as it moves away from us. Good fucking riddance.

"_That's all of them," _I hear Wrex say over the radio, "_in this area anyway. Fai Dan's going to want to know about this."_

"_You're right," _Shepard says. "_Alright, everyone gather up by the stairwell. Good work out there, by the way."_

"_Just getting started…" _Wrex mutters as Kaidan and I walk back towards the rest of the squad, and we all head back down to where Fai Dan's waiting. Garrus winces at my nose wound when I come over to see him, laughing then reaching for the medi-gel.

"You've got to be more careful, Ian," he chuckles. "I'm not going to be able to save you all the time."

"I told you, I had it under control," I insist as the cooling gel is applied to my nose. Ah, that's much better… "The geth assumed I was down, then I was going to shoot it when it wasn't expecting me too."

"It's an AI, Ian, they don't assume anything." Damn, that's a good comeback and a good point…we head out of the tower back into the main colony, and Fai Dan beckons us over again. Arcelia's looking a bit less pissed off now…that's always nice.

###########

"The tower's secure, thanks to you, Commander," Fai Dan says gratefully. Hold up, Shepard didn't do all the work! I almost died, the rest of the squad killed more than their share of geth as well…then again, she's the Spectre, and I didn't exactly sign up for this to get all the credit…

"Just glad the colony's safe," Shepard replies with a relived smile after the fight.

"I appreciate your concern, and your efforts against the geth," Fai Dan grins, looking significantly calmer than before. Arcelia, however, doesn't look convinced.

"They may have been slowed, but they'll be back. They always come back," she mutters. Bloody pessimist…even if she's right.

"We'll protect the colony," Shepard assures her. "But still, I need to know what the geth are after here. Why attack Zhu's Hope?"

"Why don't you go ask the geth that?" Arcelia snaps. Oh, she's pissing me right off…

"Why don't you learn some manners?" Shepard shoots back. Holy shit, that definitely wasn't a dialogue option in the game. "We're all doing our best to help your colony, so at least give us some support back!"

"Arcelia, cool down," Fai Dan says, trying to be reasonable. "We don't know what the geth are after," he explains, "they came, they attacked us. That's all we know. Their main base it at the ExoGeni headquarters. A good place to start looking, if you want answers." We're going to find a whole lot more than that up there, I know it…

"Great," Shepard says, sounding a bit happier. "How do I get up there?"

"The skyway leads directly to ExoGeni," Arcelia says, sounding a bit calmer. "You can't miss it." Well, at least she's being slightly helpful now…

"Of course, there's an army of geth between here and there," Fai Dan reminds us all, sounding regretful.

"It's never that easy, is it?" Shepard sighs. "Don't worry, we're prepared for it."

"You do that, maybe I can get this colony operational again," Fai Dan sighs. Shepard raises an eyebrow when he says that. Ah, her curiosity's been piqued…

"Get the colony operational? What do you need, maybe I can help," she offers.

"Really?" Fai Dan asks, sounding surprised. "Well, there's shortages all around the colony, food, water, power cells and we've got the tunnels crawling with geth…if you go and talk to the colonists, they can direct you further."

"I'll look into it," Shepard nods. "Thanks for your help, Fai Dan."

"No, Shepard, all the thanks are due to you," he says, humbly. Nice guy…Arcelia doesn't look like she agrees with that viewpoint, but thankfully keeps her mouth shut. We all walk a few metres away, then Shepard calls a party conference with all of us.

"Right, we can either head straight up to ExoGeni, or help the colonists out first. What does everyone think?" Shepard asks. I like how she asks the team for advice rather than just striking ahead herself…

"ExoGeni aren't going anywhere, Shepard," I say first. "But if we don't help the colony now, they're probably going to be screwed later on. I say we do what we can to help."

"We came here for the geth, Shepard, not on some damn charity mission," Wrex grumbles. "Head for the skyway." He would bloody disagree with me, wouldn't he!

Kaidan looks thoughtful for a second, before coming to his conclusion. "I'm with Ian on this, Commander. The colony needs our help, whether that's the mission objective or not."

"I second that," Garrus says. Wrex looks annoyed he was outvoted, but Shepard just nods.

"Alright then. But there's a lot to do around here, this is going to go a lot easier if we just split up. Kaidan and Wrex, you two come with me and we'll try to deal with the water supply and tunnel geth. Ian, Garrus, you two have worked together before, so try and find out what's going on with the food shortage, okay?" The food shortage…wait, the alpha varren? No! Not good! Before I have time to protest though, Shepard's already walking away with Kaidan and Wrex without waiting for an answer from Garrus and I.

"Looks like we've got our orders, Ian," Garrus says next to me, quite cheerfully. "You and me again, just like old times."

This is going to be a _long _mission.

**A/N: So, that's the Feros introduction done and dusted! Next time, Ian and Garrus get attacked by a pack of varren, we deal with the obscene amount of problems in the colony, and it's time for the skyway ride with the Mako! Yay for bad vehicle physics!**

**And…yet again, blown away by reviewing numbers. 95 already? Virtual cookies for all! (Subject to availability.) **

**Oh yeah, The Last Monkey, you wanted a reply but you're an anonymous reviewer so here you are… basically, to think of the game is to lose the game. Everyone's playing it, but as soon as you think about it you've lost and have to announce that. It's not too complex, but leads to a lot of fun. For example, a lot of people will now be swearing and preparing to flame me for doing this.**

**Sorry guys, just answering a question! ;-). (Except you, CitadelGamesSalesman. I don't apologise.)**

**See you next chapter! **


	6. Ian vs The Varren

Chapter 6

Biffy Clyro: Bubbles

I'm physically shaking as Garrus and I head off to try and find the colonist in charge of the colony food supply, though it's barely noticeable to anyone other than myself. Garrus is actually humming a happy little tune to himself as we walk, which sounds awfully like a song from Fleet and Flotilla…then again, he doesn't know what the hell we've managed to get ourselves into. It's not that I have a phobia of varren or anything…that one on Tuchanka, Urz, is it? He's absolutely adorable. What I _do _have a phobia of is enormous varren, not domestically trained, charging at me with the sole intention of tearing my face off. Especially if there's more than one of them. Plus there's the whole deal that my kinetic barriers aren't going to do shit, because they're designed to stop things travelling at bullet speed as opposed to just a leaping varren, so they won't kick in when I've got one gnawing on my throat. Which is somewhat unfortunate.

We head into the downed freighter, and I start fiddling with my pistol and tweaking the sights to try and steady my still shaking hands. A unit of geth, I can handle. Crazed elcor biotics, not a problem. Just not a vicious, overgrown pack of dogs that may as well be rabid! I reach my right hand back over my shoulder to make sure the combat knife is still comfortably within reach. Jesus Christ, if I get pinned by one I'm going to freak the hell out…but I want my knife near my hand to cut myself some steaks with, just in case.

"Nervous, Ian?" Garrus asks non-chalantly, looking bemused as he stops and turns around to survey me, as I halfway through putting my handgun back into the holster and checking the knife comes out smoothly. "You've been on edge the entire time we've been walking. What, is there a geth behind me?" He mockingly looks over his shoulder, then back at me.

"Still a bit shaken after the fight, mate, that's all," I explain, lying as best I can. Hopefully Garrus isn't going to react as bad as me at the sight of the varren lair… "I almost died, remember?"

"Hell, you've died before." Garrus says, chuckling lightly. "Just for a minute, but it's not like it's a new experience for you anymore."

"Oh, really?" I ask sarcastically, stepping towards him. "How about I shoot you in the chest and let you give it a try?"

"I'd like to see you try," Garrus says, giving me a friendly shove away. A bit of banter with Garrus is calming me down a bit…it's only a side-mission, for God's sake, how bad can it be? "Who the hell are we supposed to ask about a food shortage around here, anyway? It would help if Fai Dan had given us a name, or something…"

"Food shortage?" a colonist behind us asks eagerly, causing us both to jump at the sound of his voice before we swivel around to look at him. "I'm in charge of that. Davin Reynolds," he says, reaching out a hand for both of us to shake. His voice is a little disjointed too…Thorian spores having an effect already on him, too. As far as the rest of the squad's concerned, Zhu's Hope should be safe, but I'm a little paranoid something might happen earlier than it does in the game. So I'm still a little bit wary. But still, it's probably best if I do the talking.

"Hi, Davin, I'm Ian and this is Garrus," I say. Garrus gives him a friendly nod. "Fai Dan told us to talk to you about helping with the colony food shortage."

"You two are the ones who helped clear out the tower, right?" Davin asks, but doesn't wait for an answer. "I appreciate it, but they'll be back. And if the geth don't kill us, we'll die of hunger soon enough."

"Not on our watch, mate," I say, trying to be reassuring. What's with all the damn pessimists on this colony? "Have you got anything to do to help with the situation?"

"I need to boost the rations with varren meat," he explains. "But it's too dangerous. The alpha varren…" that name sends chills running up my spine, "he's huge, and he's mad." Oh, that's bloody perfect! Truly inspiring, Davin! "Totally uncontrollable. I can't do anything until he's dead."

"Let me guess," Garrus butts in. "You want the heavily armed soldiers to do something about it." His voice implies that he's more than willing to oblige. Fucking hell…

"Exactly," Davin says, even managing a small smile. "He's underneath the colony, in the tunnels. There's a whole lair full of varren…but you'll know him when you see him." Too bloody right we will…but hopefully I won't be seeing him up too close.

Overcoming my nerves, though, I smile reassuringly. "We'll look into it, Davin. Thanks." He nods politely, signalling the conversation's ended. I've still got something I want to check, though…

"So, what can you tell me about the colony?" I ask, in a friendly tone.

"It's growing…" Davin says slowly, frowning. "Or it was. But you should speak with Fai Dan." I knew he'd say that! The Thorian _is_ influencing them!

"Why?" I ask, pressing the matter. "What's stopping you from just telling me?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Davin snaps. I take a step back straight away. Last thing we need now is for the colonists to get mad… "Speak with Fai Dan!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going," I say quietly, trying to calm him down. "We'll go get that alpha varren for you."

"Thanks," Davin says, previous anger seemingly forgotten straight away. Okay, that's definitely odd… "I'll see you soon." Garrus and I slowly back away, then break into a brisk walk as soon as we've all broken eye contact.

"What the hell was wrong with him?" Garrus asks, a little angrily as we walk away. It's not technically his fault, Garrus…

"No idea," I frown. Racking up yet another lie for the scoreboard! "I guess everyone in the colony's still a little jumpy after the geth invasion. They've had a pretty hard time."

Garrus looks thoughtful. "True…" he mutters. "But I'm still getting a weird vibe from this place. Everyone looks…dead, in a way. You getting that?" Well, if he's starting to piece this together himself I can subtly help him along…

"Yeah. They're almost like zombies, or something." Garrus nods grimly. "Look, I don't really know, mate. But we've got a geth invasion and a varren to deal with first. Weird colonists can wait."

"Alright," Garrus agrees. "He said we should head back into the tunnels, apparently the lair's around there."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was geth around as well," I say, knowing fine well there will be. "Sneaking around, just having each other to rely on, getting in way over our heads…you're right, this _is _just like old times!"

"Without Pallin breathing down our necks," he grins. "Come on, we need to head back to the tower. I don't want to be halfway through our mission when Shepard's ready to hit the skyway."

"Got that one right," I agree. "She fucking _nailed _that Areclia woman when she got annoyed with her, I don't want to be stuck in a similar situation."

"Agreed. Best do this quick, then."

I reach back over to my knife again, the feel of the hilt reassuring me. Couldn't agree more, Garrus. The quicker, the better.

###########

"Well, so much for quick," I mutter, as Garrus and I trudge down another identical looking corridor. Suddenly, I remembered why I hate the first half of the Feros mission! "I think we went past that block a few minutes ago."

"Ian, we've walked past hundreds of those," Garrus groans. "That's the basis of the entire architecture. Blocks and pipes. If a geth doesn't get me soon, boredom probably will."

"It's got to be around here," I say, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice. "We've been looking for like twenty minutes now! I reckon give it another five minutes, then we call this off." The colony will survive without the varren mission done…at the end of the day, it mainly comes down to how many colonists we end up saving, so it's not like it's a huge blow. Then again, it was a lot easier to think that when the colonists were little pixels…these are real people I'm affecting now. Okay, scrap that, we're finding this varren. I'm not letting down the colony because I need to man up.

"Look, we've been almost everywhere now," Garrus complains. "There's a crossroads up ahead…I don't think we've looked down there, actually." His voice brightens as he says that. Hey, maybe some progress! It's about damn time!

"Maybe our luck's taking a change for the…" I start to say, but stop immediately and duck back behind the corner when I see what's up ahead. "Two geth troopers," I hiss to Garrus, who presses himself up against the wall next to me. "I think we can get them both at the same time if we snipe them."

Garrus is already reaching for his sniper rifle as I say the words, and we both line up a shot.

"You take the one on the left," Garrus whispers. "I'll take the right. On a count of three. Three. Two."

My finger tenses on the trigger…

"One."

Sights lined up with the geth's head…I loose of my shot just after Garrus, both of us scoring perfect headshots and sending both geth tumbling to the ground, their movement almost synchronised.

"Good work," Garrus smiles. "That's two less to worry about. They might have been checking out the varren lair as well… and we didn't attract any unwanted attention to ourselves." As soon as he says that, three geth walk around the corner, weapons already aimed at our position.

"Fuck."

The shock of their appearance makes me jolt a little bit, and I accidentally fire the rifle without aiming. Damn it…one of the geth on the other side of the room suddenly jerks as a round takes it through the chest, and the synthetic crumples to the floor. Holy shit, that was a hit? Oh yeah!

"No scope!" I yell as I move back into cover, slotting the rifle back onto its strap and drawing my pistols. Total accident, sure, but I'm taking the glory!

"What?" Garrus shouts back at me, moving out to Overload the shields of one trooper. I lean out myself, blitzing the already sparking geth with eight rapid shots and bringing it down. One left…only issue is, it's a fucking destroyer! I move my fire onto it, firing rapidly without even checking my aim, and Garrus follows suit with his pistol. At least it's a big target…a shotgun blast impacts my shields, sending the readings straight into the red. Fuck! Big target with a shotgun!

Garrus ducks out of the way of another shotgun blast, but the destroyer's advancing far faster than I'd like. My shields aren't full charged yet, but if I don't act there's a good chance we're going to get into close quarters with that behemoth…no thanks! Just like Terror is Reality, you've got to risk it all to win it all!

I lean out an Overload the destroyer, popping back behind the wall just in time to avoid a shotgun blast as it spasms around with the electricity coursing through its circuits. Yeah, it doesn't stand a _chance _now. Garrus and I both just walk out of our hiding places, firing away with the handguns until it finally drops to the ground. I'm bleeding lightly from a slight cut on my face where a stray rock from the shotgun blast sprung up from the ground…I kick the dead destroyer in the head, which dulls the stinging sensation somewhat.

"Didn't attract any unwanted attention. Right," I gasp, looking at Garrus. "What do you call that, then?"

"Target practice," he replies cockily, without skipping a beat, and strides forward down the corridor. Bastard…still, not a bad comeback.

"So, what's the plan now?" I ask sarcastically. "We just follow the trail of enemies to the varren's lair? How is that even going to work?"

"Quite simply," Garrus says, pointing to the corridor open for us, where one varren is clearly in sight, snoozing. "It's going to work by us walking in there, and then shooting this lot." I'm walking right into these, aren't I…

"Plan of action?" I ask. The whole room is badly lit…I can see the one varren there, but god knows how many are lurking in the darkness.

Garrus flicks on his omni-tool light, still looking at me. "We'll take them one at a time…" his gaze goes over to the light his omni-tool. "Shit, or not!"

I take two steps back as I see what the light's revealed. This room is huge, stretching at least as long as thirty metres long and maybe sixty metres wide…and it's packed full with varren. There's got to be at least twenty there, the entire pack sleeping as we survey them. The huge alpha varren is at the back, and my God he's enormous. Almost as big as a bear, compared to the dog like size of the normal varren. This could be a problem.

"We need to take this quietly, they haven't noticed us yet," Garrus whispers. "If we're stealthy about it, we can get a few quiet kills in before they notice, then take the fight at our own pace. You've got your knife, so we'll sneak forward and get a few that way."

"Alright," I whisper back. I slowly advance towards the nearest varren, slowly sliding the knife out of its sheath. Straight slice to the neck, rinse and repeat around the room. There's a shitload more varren here than there was in Mass Effect 1…but at least they're all sleeping. This might be easier than I was expecting…

I make it five silent steps, before disaster strikes. I feel the loose stone impact against the end of my foot as I move forward, which doesn't make me panic. Seeing it fly through the air makes me worry slightly. It's when it hits the nose of the closest varren head on I start to freak out. It's fully alert straight away, whirling to its feet, eyes firmly fixed on me and hackles raised as it growls. Very fucking loudly. Gradually, the varren around it start to rouse themselves…including the alpha varren. Oh, hell no! But Garrus is the final catalyst for all out chaos, putting a round in the closest varren's head with his pistol. As it turns out, gunfire sends varren berserk.

The very first varren to attack leaps at me with a ferocious noise, leading the rest of his allies into the assault. Shit! This is not good! I duck under its outstretched claws, driving the knife up with my right arm and burying it deep into the varren's belly as it's in midair. The weight of it almost drags me down, but I keep my balance to drag the knife out almost quickly as it went in as the varren lets out a whine of pain and drops to the floor, bleeding heavily from the chest wound I inflicted.

Before I've got time to recover, though, another varren snaps at me with its jaws, barely missing my waist. Acting on pure instinct now, my free hand goes to one pistol in its holster, brings it out and fires in one smooth motion, killing the attacking varren instantly. There's a series of gunshots from Garrus, and there's a groan from more varren as two more bite the dust. Swivelling around to assess the situation behind me, I bring the knife arm up under my pistol hand, steadying my aim and giving me a tactical knife position. Alright, who wants some?

Yet another varren moves towards me slowly, but I double tap with the pistol and bring it down before it has a chance to leap. I see one lunge at Garrus out of the corner of my eye, but he literally punches it out of the air then stamps down hard on its neck, the snapping sound echoing around the lair. I kick one away advancing behind me, then stab another in one huge eye as it tries to tear at my legs with outstretched claws. That's got to be at least ten down now, right? Garrus scores two headshots on advancing varren as soon as I think that, from his position about twenty metres across the room from me. Shit, we're getting split up rather too quickly for my liking…

Out of nowhere, an absolutely enormous force impacts with my back, knocking me straight to the floor and sending both my knife and pistol sailing from my grip. I roll over to try and spring back up…just in time to see an enormous set of jaws closing in around my neck as the alpha varren leaps onto my chest, knocking the wind out of me. Fuck! I barely manage to bring my arms up in time, grasping both sides of its mouth as it snaps frantically at me, claws gouging deep marks into my armour. I kick it in the chest as hard as I can, but that just makes it even madder as it doubles its efforts. Christ, it's jaws are like vices…I can't hold it off for ever!

"Garrus," I manage to yell. "Help! GARRUS!" I just catch a glimpse of the turian trying to fend off three varren at once, before the alpha varren pushes me with two paws, knocking my balance and weakening the position of one my arms. Which the leader exposes without mercy.

The jaws close in, just as I frantically punch it's nose, forcing the mouth down away from my neck. Instead, the varren latches onto my chest, lifts me up in its mouth and start shaking around. It's probably not going to be able to break into my chest place…but the constant shaking is making me dizzy, and my muscles are aching in protest. Realising that his current tactic isn't working, the varren suddenly lets go of me, tossing me away like a rag doll before pressing on the attack again, pinning me completely this time and lunging towards my throat. Fuck, I've got no way of…

Just as the jaws of death close around me, there's a sharp yelp from the alpha varren as it's flung off me by and explosive kick from Garrus, who's finally managed to deal with the rest of the varren plaguing us.

"Get up!" Garrus yells, as I struggle back to my feet after the dazing experience of being made a varren's chew toy. "Come on, Ian! Get a weapon!" I finally clear my head and rise up, drawing my one remaining pistol in the left holster. Garrus is already laying into the alpha varren with gunfire, but it's eating bullets like bloody candy!

We keep shooting as it dashes back towards us, but I dive roll out of the way of its next lunge and keep firing. Like fuck am I getting pinned again! It skids to a halt, presumably to try for another assault…but it teeters as it turns, before crashing to the ground with an enormous cry, bullet wounds scattered across its entire body. And just like that, silence descends onto the lair, only broken by the frantic breathing of both Garrus and myself after the fight.

"That's…another one…you owe me," the turian points out after he's sufficiently recovered, cracking a small grin.

"I'll rescue you one of these days, Garrus," I retort. "It's because I'm getting into the action, you know? You're hanging back too much!"

"Uh-huh," he says mockingly. "Well…I guess Davin's going to want to hear about this."

"He'd better," I growl. "If he tells us to go and see Fai Dan about it after we did all that I'm going to break his fucking neck."

###############

"So, we killed the big varren," I inform Davin. "Hunting's all yours now."

"What about the rest?" the colonist asks. "How many of the varren still remain?"

Ah, fuck. Probably should have though about that first… "Yeah…" Garrus drones. "They attacked us, so we had to kill some. But the alpha varren won't be bothering you, and I'd be surprised if you didn't find any more to hunt down in those tunnels."

"Okay," he nods. "As soon as the immediate geth threat is over, I'll organise a hunt. Thank you, both. You didn't get in too much trouble?"

Garrus opens his mouth to answer, but I cut him off. The longer we spend around the colonists, the more influence the Thorian's gaining, and I don't want to be around when this shit gets real. Plus, Davin's a bit creepy anyway.

"Nothing we couldn't handle," I say, though the gouge marks on my armour suggest otherwise. "We've got to go now, Davin. Good luck with the hunting."

"Wait, before you go." He reaches into his pocket, and draws out some credits. "Take these between you. It's not much, I know, but it's all we can spare." Wow, there's got to be like five thousand credits there…shit, not bad, especially considering I didn't even ask for them! That armour customisation is going to come sooner than I though…provided I can afford the repair fees after this mission. Aw, crap, that's going to have a big impact on my funds…

Pocketing Davin's money, Garrus and I turn and head out into the open air again. Looks like that's our part of the mission done, then…where the hell's Shepard at?

Garrus is obviously thinking one step ahead of me, lifting a talon to his ear and speaking into the radio. "Shepard, are you there?" There's a wait of about five seconds…then a crackling reply comes through, but it's unmistakeably the Commander's voice.

"Roger that, Garrus, we're just finishing up. We should be out into the colony in about two minutes, I'll talk to Fai Dan, then we'll head off to the skyway. How did your food mission go? You didn't lose Ian, did you?"

"No, I'm still here, Shepard," I say. "But food mission doesn't do it justice. I don't know what you've been up to down there…but I hope you weren't fighting a pack of twenty varren, and one of them was an absolute beast."

"Shit, really?" Shepard asks, sounding incredibly surprised. "If I'd known that before I'd have put more people onto it instead of what we've been doing. Just wave after wave of geth down here."

"You and the turian brought down an alpha varren and its pack by yourself?" Wrex's voice asks.

"Yeah," I reply simply. "Got the gouge marks on my armour to prove it as well." Wrex simply grunts, then leaves the channel open for Shepard again. I don't know what that grunt means by krogan standards…but I hope he's impressed!

"We're just heading out of the tower now," Shepard says, her voice on the radio significantly clearer as she heads out into the open. "I'll go and talk to Fai Dan, then we'll all meet up and head for the skyway." Okay, sounds like a plan!

"How was your mission, Shepard?" Garrus asks, genuine concern in his voice. "No-one hurt?"

"Everyone's fine, Garrus," Shepard chuckles lightly. "Fai Dan's waiting for me. Give us all minute."

"Alright," the turian says, a little sheepishly, ending the conversation. That sounded like a bit more than professional concern…no, is Garrus falling for Shepard? That can't be happening…then again, why not? There's not game restrictions saying who Garrus can and can't develop feelings for now… but asking after the Commander like that has definitely raised my suspicions. Maybe it's me overanalysing the situation…but that's something to watch, I imagine. It's not like I disapprove, mind, quite the opposite!

Shepard's finished up her conversation as with Fai Dan, and I tear myself from my train of though as she approaches with Wrex and Kaidan flanking her.

"Wow, you weren't lying about that armour damage," she says, admiringly. "They're some beauties right there."

I raise an eyebrow. "If you want them, go and wrestle an alpha varren yourself. Almost tore my damn throat out!"

"On Tuchanka, killing a pack of varren like that isn't bad work," Wrex admits. "Though a krogan wouldn't need someone backing them up."

"Good thing I'm not a bloody krogan, then," I retort. "So, are we heading up to the skyway?"

"Looks like it," Shepard says. "I think we've done everything we're going to do here. The elevator up to the vehicle's in the tower, so everyone follow me up." The vehicle? Fuck, Mako ride! Then again, this is real live, so it's not like the physics from the game should carry over…right? It's not like I get car sick…but pulling a triple barrel roll whenever we turn slightly isn't going to do me any favours. Shepard's already striding ahead towards the tower before I get a chance to say anything, though, already deep in conversation with Garrus who's jogged ahead to talk to her. I occasionally catch the odd word like 'Mako' and 'specifications'…obviously just talking about how he's calibrated the Mako, then. Damn, I really am reading too much into him and Shepard!

"Those varren must have been pretty rough, kid," Kaidan observes, striding up next to me. "Those are some nasty looking marks on your armour."

"They look cool, though, don't you think?" I ask, hopefully. Kaidan shakes his head, smiling. "Yeah, I know. Just trying to avoid the repair fees by making out like it's deliberate."

"The Alliance will cover your armour, you know," the Lieutenant points out. "Repair costs, anyway. Customisation, upgrades, that all comes out of your pocket." Oh, sweet deal! That's going to save me quite a few credits…that's going to save _everyone _credits, as a matter of fact.

"We're probably going to have the Alliance bankrupt by the time this mission's over, then," I say, getting a laugh from Kaidan. "I imagine this is just the first of many times my stuff's going to get damaged. You're looking pretty much spotless, though. Geth didn't give you any trouble."

"Barely," he shrugs. "Just narrow corridors down there, but a lot of cover. We pretty much had the geth funnelled in towards us, and just cut them down. Nothing exciting, anyway, not like your mission."

"I wouldn't call being thrown around by a varren exciting, as such," I reply, as we all reach the top of the stairwell and file into the elevator up to the skyway. "Terrifying, maybe. But it's not something I fancy doing again."

"I hear that," Kaidan nods. "I've had a nasty run in with some varren myself, a while back, on this mission I did against some batarian slavers with the Alliance before I joined up on the Normandy…" he stops himself midsentence. "Sorry, I'm getting carried away, and we're going to be at the skyway any minute now."

"No, that sounds interesting," I quickly say. Aw, why'd he have to stop? I never really knew much about Kaidan anyway, so any stories he's got have me interested. Especially if they end with varren being killed in excessively violent ways… "Tell me about it back on the Normandy, maybe?"

"Good idea," he nods. "When we get off this place, just come see me where I usually am."

"When?" I ask. "Shouldn't that be if?"

"Don't be such a pessimist," he smiles. "You've done more than fine so far, kid. You'll be laughing about all this in a day or so, trust me." He's probably right…though he doesn't know about the zombie colonists yet. Maybe it'll still be funny, albeit in a more Dead Rising sort of way, I don't know. Actually, speaking of colonists going all crazy…

"Shepard," I suddenly say as the elevator continues up, causing the Commander to swivel around and face me. "Have you noticed anything weird about the colonists here? The guy who gave Garrus and I the assignment was acting all weird, wouldn't answer any questions about the colony…"

"Now that you mention it," Shepard muses, "there was this one guy in the tunnels who was acting really damn odd."

"I remember him," Wrex's voice rumbles. "Clutching his head, screaming about 'the master's whip' or something. We should have just killed him and put him out of whatever sick misery he was in."

"That wasn't misery, it looks like he was enjoying it," Shepard says. "He kept talking about the master, like something was influencing him…clutching his head, screaming and laughing."

Garrus speaks up now. "It wasn't quite that extreme in the colony, but the whole place is weird. Fai Dan seems like the only normal person around here, and all the colonists keep saying we should…"

"Go and see Fai Dan," Kaidan finishes for us. "Something's not quite around here, Shepard, I can feel it in my gut."

"You and me both," she nods. "Maybe we'll find some more answers at ExoGeni." You don't know half of it, Shepard…just as I think that, the elevator doors spring open, and the Mako comes into sight. Here we go…fanfuckingtastic. I hate driving missions.

Shepard jogs ahead, flinging open the driver's door and taking a quick look inside. The look on her face when she comes back out doesn't imply happy things.

"What?" Garrus asks immediately. "What's wrong?"

"This thing only has three seats," she points out. "And there's five of us." As the realisation suddenly dawns on us all, I look over at Wrex, and he looks at me.

"Shepard, I'm not sharing a seat with Wrex," I say immediately. A wide smile starts to form on her face as I say that, and her eyes jump between Wrex and I. I just put the bloody idea in her head, didn't I?

I fucking hate Renegade streaks.

**A/N: Damn, that was actually pretty fun to write! Certainly makes a change from how boring the assignments actually were in-game, anyway…**

**So next chapter, Mako section (I know I said that last chapter, but it's really happening this time), heading to the outpost and then ExoGeni itself. It's gonna get good, son!**

**Or at least, it will in about a week. I'm off on holiday until Monday, which means I'll be back into writing on Tuesday…so we're probably looking at no update until Friday next week. Sorry, guys! Family duties must be attended to!**

**And, of course, we broke 100 reviews. In 5 chapters. That's insane. So thank you all, a thousand times, let's see if we can that 200! **

**Until next time… **


	7. Ian vs The Mako

Chapter 7

Doves: There Goes the Fear

"Look, Wrex, that's just not going to work, is it?"

"These seats weren't built for krogan, Ian, I'm barely fitting on as it is."

"Yeah, but you've got at least a few inches to move up so I can fit on as well."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Do you want me to just sit on you? Save us both a lot of bother."

"I think you'll find it's going to create some, Ian."

I look over at Shepard, throwing my hands up in my air to further emphasise my exasperation. She wasn't lying about the Mako room situation. Not even a little bit. Garrus managed to bag the gunner area, Shepard took the driving seat, and Kaidan is sitting by himself opposite Wrex and I. "Why don't I just share with Kaidan, Shepard? Why the hell am I sitting with Wrex?"

"I second that," the krogan growls. "This is stupid," he points out, bluntly.

"Kaidan needs the room," Shepard says, barely suppressing a giggle. "He's…erm…navigating."

"Oh, is that it? Really, Shepard?" I ask, sarcastically. "You need him to navigate, despite the massive fucking window right in front of you? The skyway's a straight line! What's there to even navigate?"

"A second pair of eyes doesn't hurt, kid," Kaidan grins. Okay, why's he joining in now? "I need room to move around, stretch my line of sight."

"I need room so I don't have a human sitting on me," Wrex mutters. "Why are we even having this conversation?"

"Look, I gave you both a direct order," Shepard says, trying to sound serious despite the small laugh escaping from her mouth. "Make it work, or you can both stay behind. Got it?"

Damn, Shepard's laughing, but I really don't think she's joking about leaving us behind…and I don't want to be here, by myself, when the colonists start going crazy. I really don't want to have to kill any of them…but that's hardly an option unless I get some gas grenades. I mean, I can hardly knock every single colonist unconscious, can I?

"Look, Wrex," I say, resigned to our shared fate but still desperately trying to sound reasonable. "I'm just going to have to sit on your knees for the journey. It's not like I weigh much, especially compared to a krogan…"

"It's a matter of principle," Wrex replies gruffly. "It's an embarrassment, for both of us. I don't have to carry weaklings."

"I'm not weak!"

"Agree to disagree."

I almost get my knife out for the sole purpose of taking Wrex's head off, but Garrus interrupts before I go through with it. "I'd quite like to leave today, if that's alright with everyone," the turian says impatiently. "I mean, I'm having great fun up here, doing nothing, but it's going to get old pretty soon."

"One of you, just sit on the other one for the journey," Shepard grins. She's still finding this funny! "Don't make me decide who's sitting on who." Oh God, I can guess what her decision would be…

"Wrex, if you sit on me, I'll probably die," I say quickly, pre-empting Shepard's order. "Just for the skyway, mate. I swear never to speak a word of it to any of your clan."

"I might," Garrus mutters from the main gun, and I shoot him a furious glare. Not helping!

Wrex frowns, then gives out a deep sigh. "Fine. But let's go now, before I change my damn mind." Hallefuckinglujah! I quickly sit on the edge of Wrex's lap before he can change his mind, still reeling slightly from how weird this situation is getting. Didn't _ever _think I'd end up sitting on Urdnot Wrex's lap, for whatever reason, in my life…and to be honest, it's not much fun. And really damn strange.

"Everyone ready," Shepard asks, gunning the engine and shooting the Mako forward before anyone has a chance to answer. It rolls forward smoothly, and we head out into the skyway. Well, at least the Mako seems to be handling fine…makes a change from what the game physics were, anyway. Shepard nudges the steering wheel…joypad…whatever, to the left, and remarkably the Mako turns left WITHOUT flipping over. Well, so far, so…

"Geth straight ahead, Commander," Kaidan says. Way to spoil the happy situation, Kaidan.

"Good navigating, Kaidan," I mutter sardonically. "I can see why you needed all that room."

The Lieutenant grins back. "I knew you'd come around to my way of thinking eventually, kid." Bastard…

The enormous boom from Garrus firing the cannon and following it up with a volley of machine gun fire drowns out any hope of me getting a comeback in, though, as the geth in front of us are blown up into a wide variety of tiny pieces, Shepard simply running over the one geth Garrus misses. The Mako is a bit of a beast, isn't it…and so far it's handling brilliantly. Hell, I could get to enjoy this!

Out of nowhere, an enormous geth ship swoops across our field of vision, dropping two pods as it flies over and disappears into the distance. Wait, those pods seem familiar…even more so as they start to unfold. Oh shit, that's a…

"Geth Armature!" Garrus yells, opening fire with the turret.

"Everyone hold on!" Shepard shouts above the din, hurling the wheel to the right to swerve out of the way of the incoming shots from the colossus. The swerve, however, catches me completely off guard. Wrex's knee jerks as we're thrown around inside the Mako, sending me flying straight off it…and headfirst into a wall.

I slam to the floor as my head explodes with pain…and the vision suddenly flares up. I catch quick glimpses off the Reaper's destruction, the world around me seemingly ablaze, the image of Shepard falling and the merging of her scream and the Reaper's roar…

"Ian! Shit, you alright, kid?" As quickly as it appeared, the vision suddenly vanishes, leaving me staring into Kaidan's face as he crouches above me, applying medi-gel to where I can feel myself bleeding slightly from a head wound. The way the cabin occasionally rocks and the glances I get of Shepard struggling with the steering suggest we're still in combat…I blink and shake my head a few times, clearing my vision and leaving just a dull pain in my head. Okay, maybe I'm not going to enjoy this after all.

"Come on, talk to me!" Kaidan shouts. "How do you feel?"

"Like a million dollars," I groan, climbing unsteadily back to my feet. Jesus, I always seem to get the worst of it, don't I… "I'm not sharing a seat with Wrex again, though, that's for sure."

"Agreed," Kaidan nods, grabbing me by the arm and pushing into his chair, while he sits next to me. I take a quick glance at Wrex…and he seems quite pleased with the new seating situation. That makes two of us, then…Shepard seems to have cleared the attacking armature while I was down, though, taking the simple approach of driving past them as fast as we damn can, while Garrus keeps up a constant stream of turret fire. I hold onto a small handle on the wall as hard as I can, as Shepard takes a small jump over a ramp, landing the Mako straight on top of a small geth trooper. Motion sickness, here we come…

"Another armature!" Garrus shouts from the gun, still blasting away. I can't see him that well…but I bet he's grinning at the sheer amount of destruction he's causing up there.

"Thanks Garrus, I might have missed that!" Shepard growls sarcastically, taking us up the slanted side of the skyway as fast as the Mako can go. Actually, if I didn't know any better, I'd say considering the angle and speed we're approaching at we're probably going to…

Oh God.

Mako physics.

It's a trap.

What comes next?

Shepard hits the curve exactly as I expected, launching the Mako up into the air and starting the rotation. I yell out with euphoria and fear, as Kaidan and Shepard both join in the shout, and time seems to slow down as we roll. I see Wrex, looking a bit surprised, and the way Garrus's arms are thrown out suggest he wasn't expecting it either…

The Mako does the full 360º roll and slams back down on all six wheels, the suspension bouncing us all around as Shepard expertly manoeuvres us through the tiny door that open automatically before us, leading into a long, walled road as the door closes behind us, locking the geth out. That. Was. Insane.

"Do a barrel roll!" I can't help shouting, as Shepard gradually slows the Mako down as we progress. Every single set of eyes in the Mako turn to look at me, even Garrus leaning down from the turret to stare.

"What? No-one's ever heard that before?"

"That knock on the head didn't affect you too bad, did it Ian?" Shepard asks, smiling.

"I've always been a little odd, Shepard, a knock on the head isn't going to change…"

"_We've got movement," _a female voice suddenly crackles through the radio. Of course, the Mako's equipped to intercept transmissions in the battlefield…and this must be the camp outside of ExoGeni. "_Some kind of vehicle, not one of the geth."_

"Sounds like they've spotted us," Kaidan observes. "They've got to be close to here, otherwise we wouldn't have picked them up."

"Forget it," Wrex grunts. "The less time we have to spend here, the better. We need to find the geth."

"There's survivors of the attack around here," Shepard says firmly. "And I don't leave people behind." She slams the Mako brakes on, sending us to a halt just next to the ramp leading down to the survivors. "You don't like it Wrex, feel free to wait in the Mako."

"Just a suggestion," he mutters, sounding suitably chastised, as Shepard pops open both the doors on the Mako. They're nice, wide things, and Garrus simply climbs out of the turret by an escape hatch through the roof. Makes sense there'd be one there, mind, in case the Mako sets on fire and we all need to evacuate…shit, don't think of that!

Shepard draws her pistol, and the rest of us do the same. Somehow, I doubt the ExoGeni bloke is going to be too pleased to see us all…and ideally I'd like to shoot him rather than the other way around. Not that it'll come to that, fingers crossed. We all jog down the ramp…and when we reach the bottom we get to see the whole survivor camp. It's a mess…which is something of a recurring theme on Feros, I've noticed. Lights and the odd terminal scattered around, and in the middle of it all a man and a woman talking. Or at least, they were, considering the man is now gawping at us like we're ghosts. Or something else beginning with g.

"That's close enough!" the man shouts at Shepard as we approach. "Don't move!"

"Relax, Jeong," the woman says, sounding tired of Jeong already. Of course, Ethan Jeong, the ExoGeni bastard…my hands tighten into fists, but that's all the anger I outwardly display. He'll get his just desserts in the end, regardless of how Shepard plays the situation… "They're obviously not geth."

"Get back, Juliana!" he snaps. Huh, he's rude. Who'd have guessed. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"The name's Shepard, I'm a Spectre." Shepard says defiantly, taking a step towards Jeong. "I've been sent on a mission to help the people here, but not when they're threatening me." She gesture towards the pistol Ethan's holding tightly in his hand. "So unless you're really going to use that thing, I suggest you drop it. Now."

"Don't even worry about him," Juliana says idly. "He only cares about the company." Ethan turns to glare at her.

"You trust too damn easily," he mutters.

"Just glad to see a friendly face," she replies, smiling a bit. "Thought we were the only humans left on this planet."

"You're not, don't worry," Shepard says, switching her tone to be more friendly as she addresses Juliana. See, if you're polite to Shepard, she's polite back… "Fai Dan and some of the other colonists at Zhu's Hope are still alive."

"Wait, they're alive?" she gasps, turning to face Jeong. "You said they were all dead!"

"I said they were probably all dead!" Ethan protests.

"Well, they're not completely gone, but the geth have been giving them hell down there," I say. "Still, bit of a foregone conclusion saying they're all dead, no?"

Jeong just ignores my comment, and Juliana continues regardless. "I know what you mean," she sighs. "Those damn synthetics are relentless."

"Like I said, my squad and I are here to help you," Shepard reassures her. "But any information you have could be invaluable. Are we getting close to their base?"

"Almost. They're holed up in the ExoGeni headquarters just down the skyway." Juliana explains.

"Hold up, those headquarters are private property, soldier!" Jeong protests.

"We'll tell the geth that when we arrive," I retort, unable to contain myself. "Besides, we're doing you a favour here. It's not like you've got anything to hide, right?" Man, it's fun making this guy squirm.

Shepard gives me a look to tell me to shut up, even if her facial expression suggests she approves of what I'm saying. "We're not interested in your company secrets, just the geth," she tells Jeong.

"Commander, before you go…" Juliana says, stumbling over the words a little bit. "My daughter, Lizbeth…she's missing."

"You shouldn't waste time poking around," Ethan shouts quickly. "We can do a full account of our casualties after the geth are gone." That sets Shepard off. She takes two quick strides forward, and grabs Jeong by the collar.

"You heartless bastard," she growls. "That woman's daughter is missing, and all you can worry about is your company information?" Ethan says nothing, so Shepard gives him a shove backwards and sighs with disgust, looking back at Juliana. "We'll find your daughter, I promise. Any idea where she could be in the building?"

"She was working in ExoGeni at the time of the attack, she's got to be in there somewhere. She's still alive, I know it!" Juliana says, though there's more than a hint of desperation about her words.

"Sure, there's a few places in there she could hide, for a short time." Jeong says snidely. It doesn't wash with Shepard.

"If you haven't got anything useful to say," she furiously turns her attention back to the ExoGeni man, "then I suggest you shut the hell up." Jeong immediately takes a step back at Shepard's words. Slimy bastard…still, good to see Shepard's not standing up for any bullshit from him. "We'll find Lizbeth, Juliana," Shepard reiterates. "Come on, everyone, we need to get back to the Mako. Time to finish this." Nice ideal, Shepard, but the chaos is just beginning… Shepard and the rest of the squad start to head back up the ramp, but before I leave I head over to Juliana and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know what's it's like for someone close to you to go missing like this," I say, not quite sure whether or not I'm doing the right thing but continuing regardless. "And I'd doing anything to get the person I lost back. So I swear to you, we'll find your daughter."

"Thank you," Juliana says, sounding a little tearful. "You'd best hurry, your Commander looks set on leaving." I nod, giving her a reassuring smile, then jog back over to the Commander, waiting for me with her arms folded.

"What was all that about?" the Spectre asks curiously, but she doesn't sound cross.

"Let's just say Juliana and I have something in common with the missing loved ones," I reply, a little sadly. I catch Garrus's eye when I say that, and the turian shakes his head gently. "We should head back onto the skyway," I say, after a moment's silence. "Those geth probably aren't going to kill themselves."

"Good," Wrex nods, eagerly. "The more, the better."

"We'll see if you're still saying that when we get up there," Garrus mutters, stepping back into the Mako and heading to the gun. "The less enemies there are, the smaller the chance of getting shot, after all."

"Typical turian, always trying to cheat your way out of a fight."

Shepard coughs loudly from the driver's seat as we pull away in the Mako, which is enough to shut up both the bickering krogan and the turian.

"Try and keep the stunts to a minimum please, Shepard," I say as we head back onto the skyway. "My head's barely holding together as it is."

Shepard looks back over her shoulder at me quickly. "Only because you asked so nicely, Ian. Didn't know you were so sensitive."

I laugh a bit, but the situation suddenly turns serious as another load of geth appear in front of us. For God's sake…

"They don't let up, do they?" I mutter.

"Nope," Shepard replies. "Then again, neither do we."

And with that, the carnage continues unabated once again as the Commander guns the engine and we shoot of towards ExoGeni headquarters.

###########

The short ride in the Mako was much less eventful this time around, thank Christ. I made sure I was firmly jammed into my seat, grabbing the handholds available, and Shepard didn't barrel roll the Mako again, which is always nice. Three minutes of loud explosions and lots of synthetic destruction, and we've finally pulled up just outside ExoGeni, where the entrance is too narrow for us to actually drive the Mako through. I honestly can't say I'm complaining. Garrus picks off the geth waiting for us inside the building by shooting through the door with the Mako, before we all finally get out as quiet descends on the area. Relative quiet, anyway.

"Geth really made a mess of here," Garrus says, as we all walk through the doors, weapons readied. "They must really like their explosives."

"Looks like it," Shepard agrees, heading up the ramp into the main building. Shit, I just remembered what's behind the locked door on the right…she'd better not want that decrypted!

"I didn't think the geth were capable of just enjoying destruction for no reason," Kaidan muses. "I'm sure there's a good reason for it."

I shrug. "They were probably just making sure the building was completely clear. Nothing like massive explosions to make sure you got your enemy."

"Maybe the quarian back on the ship might be able to tell us about it," Wrex mutters.

"She's called Tali, Wrex," I say, a little bit too quickly. "And honestly, I really think you're the worst person to talk to her about a topic that sensitive."

"You humans with your feelings," Wrex replies, tone implying he's barely even joking. "Krogan just get to the point in conversation. If you don't like it, you sure as hell don't show it."

"Again, good thing we're not on Tuchanka, then."

"It can be arranged…" Shepard starts to say idly, but gets interrupted by Kaidan as we approach the drop into the main part of the building.

"One way drop, Commander," he announces. "You ready for this?"

Shepard checks her pistol, then nods firmly. "There's nothing here for us to hang around for. Watch yourself on the way down, people, last thing we need is for someone to break their ankle or something."

I'm extremely paranoid about breaking something as soon as Shepard mentions that as I drop, rolling on the landing just to make the impact as soft as possible. Wrex just crashes down on his feet, followed by Garrus, as Shepard and Kaidan take a bit more care. Humans are so fragile in comparison to turians and krogan, aren't we…

We all advance down the corridor as one now, silence hanging in the air. It does seem awfully quiet around here…as we round the corner into a large, open chamber, Shepard holds up a closed fist for us all to wait and inspects the large varren corpse strewn out in front of us.

"Looks like a fresh kill…" she mutters, quietly.

"As far as I'm concerned," Garrus says, "the only good varren is a dead…"

A gunshot cuts him off mid-sentence, barely missing Shepard and passing just by my chest. Jesus fucking Christ! We all whirl around and train our weapons on the woman now approaching us, holding the pistol in an extremely nervous grip.

"I'm so sorry!" she shouts. "I thought you were geth, or one of those varren!"

"What?" Shepard shouts incredulously. "Do any of us even look like a geth? Or varren?" The woman's eyes drift towards Wrex…but she stops herself midway.

"No, but I heard noise, and just reacted," she says nervously. "I didn't mean to try and hurt you, I promise!"

Shepard sighs, lowering her weapons and prompting us all to do the same. "It's alright, we're here to help," she says, sounding more friendly after the woman's explained herself. "But who are you? What are you still doing in the building?"

"My own damn fault," the woman says, sounding regretful. "Everyone was running…and I stayed behind like an idiot to back up data." Hold up, I remember who this is…Lizbeth! Yay! That solves the problem of the missing daughter rather quickly. "Next thing I knew, we had a geth ship latched onto the building, then the power went out," Lizbeth continues. "I was trapped. I tried to get out, but the way was blocked!"

"Don't worry about it, we'll take care of the geth and get you out," Shepard reassures her.

Lizbeth smiles nervously. "I appreciate it, but it's not geth that's the problem. The energy field they put up, they don't want anyone else getting access to the…" she suddenly stops, looking incredibly shy. Oh, she almost gave it away, didn't she…

"Look, it's very important I find out what the geth are after," Shepard says, keeping her voice calm and friendly. "If you know something that can help, you need to tell me."

Lizbeth frowns for a few seconds, before she steels her resolve and looks back at Shepard. "I don't know for certain…but they're probably here for the Thorian. That would make a lot of sense."

"Thorian?" Garrus says. "Never heard of that before."

"An indigenous lifeform," Lizbeth says. "Erm…ExoGeni were studying it." Shit girl, that's not the whole story, is it?

"Can you tell me anything else about it?" Shepard asks. "Anything at all could be useful."

"Maybe…but not with those geth crawling around," Lizbeth says firmly. "We need to get out of here first, past that energy field!"

"Any suggestions?" Wrex grunts, sarcastically.

Lizbeth frowns. "I'm not much of a tech expert…but that geth ship is probably powering it. The geth have been laying power cables everywhere, so you could just follow those cables…"

"Alright, I'll look into it," Shepard nods. "Stay here until the field is down." She moves to turn away, then suddenly swivels back around again. "Who are you, exactly? What's your name?"

"Shit, sorry," Lizbeth says quickly. "It's Lizbeth. Lizbeth Baynham. Here, take my ID before you go, it should let you into restricted areas around the place. I'm going to go and hide until that energy field is down."

"Okay," Shepard agrees. "Thanks for the…"

"Varren incoming!" Kaidan yells, opening fire with his pistol as the rest of us turn around to assess the threat. Christ, good thing one of us was standing guard! I count nine charging at us straight away, but Kaidan takes one down with biotics as soon as I'm done counting, and Wrex puts some assault rifle fire into another one. I shoot both my pistols at two targets, scoring two kills, Garrus snipes two varren hanging back, getting them both with one shot, then Shepard uses biotics to shove the remaining three to the floor, where the rest of us tear them up with our preferred weapons. Result: nine varren dead in almost fifteen seconds. It really does pay to bring a larger squad, doesn't it? Well, maybe not in the Mako…

"I'm sick of varren," Garrus complains, as we all head towards the door on the far side of the room. "I'm really starting to lose count of how many I've killed, now."

"Losing count?" That actually makes me think back to seeing the Lord of the Rings films…Legolas and Gimli having their Orc killing competitions… "Maybe I can persuade you to keep count, then."

"Oh?" Garrus asks. "And how are you going to go about doing that?"

"Let's make a game out of it," I grin. "You've got to be able to keep track of kills on that visor of yours, right?"

"Yeah…" Garrus says slowly. "So you want to make it a competition? I'll have to only win by a small amount, then, not to hurt your feelings." Grr…

"Pah." Wrex scoffs. "I'll play this as well. But don't expect me to hold back like the turian."

"I think Garrus was joking, Wrex," I reply. "And besides, I don't expect you to hold back. That kind of defeats the point of making it into a competition."

"Then it's agreed," Garrus nods. "I'll set it up to count our respective kills. It'll only count if we're all on the same mission, though."

"Fair enough," Wrex nods. "This should be interesting. What does the winner get?" Shit, good question. Never though about it like that…

"Honour," I finally decide. Wrex seems happy with that…Garrus less so. "Or a drink."

Still not happy.

"Or seven."

"I'm in," Garrus nods. "Good luck, then, you're both going to need it."

"We'll see who's laughing when…" Wrex gets interrupted by the sound of another krogan, who's sounding pretty annoyed about something as we head up a stairwell further into the ExoGeni building. Hey, I remember this guy! If memory serves, he should be having an argument with a VI or something…

Sure enough, the krogan starts to flip out just as we round the corner and he comes into our line of sight.

"I am unable to comply," the VI tells the krogan standing impatiently in front of it. "Please contact your supervisor."

"Damn it!" the krogan growls. "Tell me what I want or I'll blow your virtual ass into actual dust!" I almost laugh out loud when he says that, but hold it in so we don't give away the element of surprise.

"Please contact a supervisor," the VI repeats, oblivious to the krogan's annoyance. "Or a Level 4 security exception. Alternatively, make an appointment with…"

"Stupid machine!" the krogan yells, taking a few menacing steps towards the VI.

"If there's nothing else, please step aside, there's a queue forming behind you for the use of this console," the VI happily informs the krogan, who quickly swivels around to look at us. Ah, fuck, it had to give us away…there goes the element of surprise. The krogan simply gawps at us for a second or two, until I finally break the silence.

"You heard the VI, mate, step aside."

The krogan simply yells in reply, which is pretty damn rude…then charges towards me at full pelt. Oh shit! I dive to the side, as he hurtles through the point I was standing less than a second ago…straight into a wall. Shit, that's got to hurt! The dazed krogan stumbles backwards…straight into Wrex's shotgun.

"End of the line, brother." There's a loud bang, followed by a dull thunk as part of the krogan's head hits the wall opposite where he was standing, as it sinks to its knees and keels over. The amount of gore covering the area now makes me feel a bit sick, actually…but I hold it in. Last thing I need is Wrex having another excuse to call me weak.

"That's one to me," Wrex says happily, holstering his shotgun and continuing up the corridor. I glance over at Garrus, who just shrugs and follows suit, as we all approach the VI. This should be an informative conversation…

"ExoGeni corporation reminds all staff that discharging weapons while on company property is strictly forbidden," the VI informs Shepard, who just shrugs. "Welcome back, research assistant Elizabeth Baynham!"

"That ID she gave you must mean the machine thinks you're her," Garrus points out. "We should be able to use this." Got that one right, bro…

"Alright," Shepard nods, then addresses the VI. "What was the last user trying to access?"

"Fetching data…the previous user was attempting to access data on the subject Species 37, the Thorian." Well, that pretty much proves the krogan's involved with the geth…this is going to lead to some confusion after this conversation is done within the squad, I know it.

"And what did you tell him?" Shepard asks.

"I was unable to provide the previous user with any relevant data," the VI responds, calmly. "Aside from lacking proper access, there has been no new data on Species 37. All sensors monitoring the observation post at Zhu's Hope have been inactive for several cycles." And just like that, we also prove that ExoGeni is watching the colony. Much confusion after this conversation, indeed…I can already hear Kaidan murmur something to Garrus as Shepard continues to question the VI.

"So, what does Zhu's Hope have to do with the Thorian?" the Commander asks, sounding pretty shocked at this new revelation. Which is fair enough, to be honest.

"Species 37 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope outpost," the VI explains, oblivious to how much trouble this information is going to cause extremely soon.

"Tell me everything you know about the Thorian!" Shepard demands, patience finally snapping as she realises how big this situation is getting. Here we go, moment of truth…

"The Thorian is a simple plant life form that exhibits eccentric behaviour uncommon to other flora. Through dispersion and eventual inhalation of spores, it can affect and control other organisms, including humans. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded interesting results. Before the sensors went offline, almost 85% of test subjects were infected."

"Holy shit…" Shepard gasps. "Those bastards were experimenting on the colonists! Jeong must have known about this! Lizbeth as well! ExoGeni knew what would happen all along!"

"It was deemed necessary to assess the true potential of Species 37," the VI says, almost merrily.

"Guess that explains why the colonists were acting so weird," Garrus says, sounding a bit shocked at the news. "I think a warning to Joker might be in order."

"Agreed," Shepard says, raising a hand up to her ear. "Joker. Come in, Joker." Still nothing. "Damn it!" she snaps. "That field's blocking us!"

"We've got to drop that shield and get back to the outpost, Commander," Kaidan says. "And we need to do it right now."

"Alright," Shepard says. "We need to find that ship and bring it down. Let's get moving!" And with that, she rushes off down the corridor without warning, and we all scramble behind her.

Something tells me this shit is about to get real.

**A/N: Yeah, I'm back from holiday. Woo! Updated quicker than I was expecting as well, so it's all good.**

**Ian, Garrus and Wrex will be continuing the kill competition throughout, which should be fun, plus we've got a lot happening next chapter. Geth ship to destroy, 'chatting' with Ethan Jeong, return journey on the Mako…you know how it is. **

**Coming back to see those reviews when I got back from holiday was awesome, by the way. Thanks a lot, guys, really helped motivate me to get off my lazy backside and do some writing!**

**So, see you next chapter!**


	8. Ian vs The Claw

Chapter 8

The Hoosiers: Worried about Ray

Pistols up and ready, I take a quick peek over the small wall I'm crouching behind as Shepard does the same next to me. The mocking banter of before has been replaced with a new, more serious air after the VI conversation, as it turns out how much shit is really going on around here. It's still unbelievable, how ExoGeni can justify that kind of experimentation…somehow, I don't think Shepard's going to be the only one having words with Ethan Jeong back at the camp. Most of the crew have probably got a few words for that bastard…

However, the two geth kneeling down by what looks almost like some kind of altar is adding to the seriousness of the situation quite a bit as well. It's so weird, seeing them doing that…maybe it's some kind of Reaper worship, considering they see the Reapers as gods…I might ask Tali about it back on the Normandy. Assuming I make it back.

"What the hell are they doing?" Shepard whispers to me as we both survey the scene before us.

"No idea," I hiss back. "Looks almost like they're…praying, or something. To what, I don't know."

Shepard nods. "This should give us the element of surprise, though. We can investigate whatever it is they're doing after they're dead."

"Agreed. Fire at will?" Shepard's only reply is a smile before she comes out from behind the wall and obliterates one geth with a warp. Before Garrus and Wrex can react, I give the remaining geth both barrels from the pistol, taking down its shields then Overloading the synthetic as it wheels around to try and return fire.

"One all, Wrex," I grin at the krogan, who's only just drawn his shotgun and is frowning in disappointment. "Better start to pick up your game, Garrus."

"You got one kill," the turian replies sarcastically. "Congratulations. That's nothing. I'll be past that within seconds, just watch."

"Keep telling yourself that, bro," I mutter, quietly but just loud enough for both Garrus and Wrex to hear. The krogan gives a little grunt of laughter, and Garrus just shrugs and heads off after Shepard. Aw, he's so sensitive! Or he's trying to get ahead of me to get the drop on the next set of enemies…fuck, come back here!

Kaidan lowers his pistol a bit on approaching the light the geth were praying at, examining it with a look of confusion on his face. "What is this…" he says, almost to himself. "It's almost like the geth built themselves a church, or something."

"Tali did say the revered the Reapers as gods back on the Citadel," Shepard muses. "Maybe this is some kind of shrine to them, one synthetic to another."

"It's fucked up, that's what it is," Wrex says bluntly. "The geth are dangerous enough without some kind of religion telling them what to do as well."

"Saren's probably the one telling them what to do, not the Reapers or whatever it is they're praying to," I suggest. "Or maybe this is some kind of altar to Saren? That would fit the bastard's ego…"

Shepard shakes her head. "Right now, we've got this colony to save. We can try and find out about this later."

"Good point," Kaidan nods. "That energy field needs to get taken down. Let's just keep following the power cables."

"Alright," Shepard says, moving towards the corridor in front of us, as we all follow close behind her, "everyone keep your guard up. There's bound to be more of them, and that one krogan back by the VI is making me uneasy. If that's the only one, I'll be very surprised." Good instincts, Commander…I'm not looking forward to seeing any more krogan, mind. Garrus and Wrex can take those kills if they want them, but my focus is definitely set on survival around krogan rather than anything else right now.

It's a short, tense walk down the corridor, interrupted only by Shepard checking the pulse of a human body strewn across the floor in front of us. When it's obvious that the person's dead, she just closes her eyes, shakes her head and sighs, then we move on towards the wide, open room that just screams 'FIGHT HERE!'. Damn, Shepard really cares about this whole thing, innocents getting hurt…I've been seeing corpses for about two years, and it's still bad just seeing someone like that, bullet square between the eyes, trying to escape from whatever evil was chasing them…

Wrex kicks the corpse on the way past, knocking it into a wall and knocking me off my train of thought.

"That's another for me," the krogan says, firmly.

"What?" I gawp at him. "That guy was already dead! How the hell does that count?"

"He's dead because I kicked him," Wrex claims.

"That's outrageous! Shepard already checked the guy's pulse, he was gone long before we got here."

"I saw him moving," the krogan protests, stubbornly. "My kill."

I sigh with exasperation. "Wrex, I can't believe you're trying to cheat. _Already._ And let's say, hypothetically, this guy wasn't dead and you just killed him. He wasn't even an enemy! Killing random people doesn't boost your score!"

"Oh," Wrex says, sounding a little bit despondent. "Right. Take that one off my score then, Garrus."

"It was never on," Garrus replies, snidely, as we all stack up against the wall and Shepard looks into the room, hastily withdrawing her head as geth weapon fire slams into the other side of the wall just next to her.

"There's not that many," she gasps, obviously surprised by how close she came to taking a bullet there. "But there's some of those bastard jumping ones. Biotics focus on them, Ian, Garrus, you take down the foot soldiers." We all give her a nod, and as one spring into action.

Shepard leans out and knocks one of the hoppers off its perch with a biotic pull, using it to bowl another geth foot soldier over, who I finish off with pistol fire. Awesome, another one for my score! Garrus isn't missing a trick though, scoring a headshot on another soldier while I'm busy and bringing it down. That leaves one standard trooper and one hopper left…the biotics should take the hopper, so that leaves that trooper to me! It catches sight of me before I can aim up though, spraying assault rifle fire at me and catching my shields, bringing them down to about 60%. But what the geth has in firepower, I make up for in precision. A volley of pistol shots bring its shields down, and I bring up my omni-tool too…

There's a loud crack as a sniper rifle shot rings out just over my shoulder, and a triumphant yell of 'scoped and dropped!' in an unmistakable flanging voice as the geth trooper falls to the ground.

"Motherfucker!" I yell, turning around and punching Garrus on the arm. Kill-stealing son of a bitch! "That was mine!"

"If you can't kill him in time, then don't start what you can't finish," the turian grins. "Two to me, there. So I think that makes us all even."

"Really? I thought Wrex only had one." Garrus just gestures at something over my shoulder, and I swivel around to see Wrex repeatedly slamming a geth hopper against the floor over and over again with biotics.

"You can only kill him once, Wrex, that's not getting you bonus points!" I shout over. The krogan grunts something at that, and lets the mangled geth fall to the floor. He's getting into this far, far too much… Shepard just shakes her head, smiling a bit, and we keeping pressing forward. Man, Feros sucks. I mean, really. It's all just corridors, dull colours, waves of enemies…then again, this beats fighting an asari matriarch in a snow covered world, or tearing through geth on Therum…at least the weather isn't bad, I suppose.

Asari matriarch…shit, I wonder where Shiara is right now. Is she still following me somehow, hacking cameras wherever I go? Is she watching me on the Normandy in some way? So far, touring with Shepard hasn't thrown up any of the answers I'm really looking for…but then again, she did say it wasn't going to come quickly. I just have to let them come to me…if I survive long enough to find them, anyway.

We start heading up yet another stairwell, passing by an energy field as we go. God, I really hate Feros. Just bland corridor after corridor…I wasn't as bothered playing Mass Effect itself, but considering this is the world I actually inhabit it's annoying. Everywhere looks the same…if it wasn't for the constant geth threat I'd be bored out of my mind.

We round yet another identical looking corner…but the sight in front of us isn't just the normal stone corridor. It's still there, obviously, but unfortunately there's krogan standing in there. To be precise, three of them. Bugger, just the one was bad enough before…and they're all looking straight at us. We don't even get the element of surprise. That's fucked up.

Not leaving us time to dwell on how unfair the situation is, though, one of the krogan does his crazy suicide charge while the rest move forward and blast away at us with shotgun fire. Once again, the crazy suicide charge is directed at me. For fuck's sake! It's like krogan home in on me or something! I've not got enough room to do my usual dive roll, and that's gonna leave me open for some shotgun retribution if I try it anyway…shit, only one real option, and this is probably gonna hurt…

I take a step forward, jump up in the air and kick both my legs forward explosively and catch the krogan right in the face with them. The force of the kick combined with the armour weight sends it staggering to the side, clutching at its head, as I drop to the floor and spring back to my feet, legs aching horribly from the exertion. Their heads are like fucking rocks! Garrus and Wrex both spot an opportunity with the stunned krogan, both blasting away at him, the turian with his pistol and Wrex with his shotgun. It's Wrex that lands the killing blow though, with a roar of triumph, as a shotgun blasts blows a chunk out of the krogan's chest and it keels over. I need to stop setting people up, damn it!

While Wrex, Garrus and myself were focusing on that one krogan in a desperate scramble for points, however, Shepard and Kaidan sprang into action on the other two, both biotically lifting them into the air. Shepard handles it with seeming ease, but I can see a vein on Kaidan's neck pulsing as he grimaces with effort. I'm not surprised that Shepard is the stronger biotic, with her more up to date implants, but this would seriously be a bad time for Kaidan to have an L2 migraine…but with a grunt of effort, he and Shepard crash their respective krogan together head first, the solid crack and dents in their heads as the krogan are allowed to fall suggesting what little brains they had initially are now completely fucked. Oh, the irony.

"Dead end, Shepard," Garrus announces. Oh, fuck, we weren't even supposed to come this way! Pointless danger for the loss! All that accomplished was getting Wrex one ahead of me in the kill competition. Great.

We all descend back down the staircase from where we came, passing back by the energy field again and taking the corridor I missed last time we came through here. It's because everything looks the same around here…it just blends in! The whole corridor is covered with rubble as we progress, but the power cables are still just about visible…which means we must be getting close. And true enough, the door in front of us leads into a wide, open area, with plenty of cover strewn about. Here we go again!

"You know, I'm sick of taking the cautious approach," Shepard says, as we all prepare for entry. "We're bringing the fight to them. Rush tactics, everyone. No hiding and sniping, Garrus," she winks at the turian, who looks a bit embarrassed. Come on, that's got to be flirting…I am not reading too much into this! Wrex looks like he's relishing the idea of get in close and personal, though…great, that's probably going to propel me even further behind in the scoreboards. Maybe this competition wasn't such a great idea…

The rest of the squad isn't waiting around to consider, though, Wrex leading a bold charge that seems to catch the geth inside the room completely by surprise. Wrex shotguns one down immediately, Garrus finding a kill himself by firing his pistol as quick as he can, almost like a machine gun. Shit, this isn't cool! Now I'm last! A beeping noise in my ear coupled with a glance at my omni-tool also shows my shields are taking a real beating, and I need to get to cover. Like, right the fuck now! I duck behind a block just as a burst of geth assault rifle fire takes the shields down, and one final stray shot grazes my shoulder as I press myself against the wall, breathing hard. Ah, that stings! The armour automatically applies medi-gel to it though, grabbing me a little bit of time to take stock of the battle situation. We've got two geth left, including the bastard one that shot me…Kaidan and Shepard are both ganging up on the one furthest across the room with a combination of biotics and handgun, only leaving the geth that I really want payback on. Garrus is already shooting it, and I notice its shields drop. Hmm, I wonder…

I lean out, omni-tool readied, and Overload the geth, causing it to drop twitching to the ground. The way Garrus's mandibles widen and eyes narrow when he sees that he didn't get the kill clearly show one unhappy turian. Not that I care.

"Denied!" I cheer, glancing over and winking at Garrus, who still seems to be in a state of shock. "How do you like those apples, partner?"

"Underhand tactics, Ian," he mutters. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"Hypocrite."

"Cheater."

We continue forward up the stairs, Garrus still mumbling to himself, albeit in some variation of turian my translator doesn't understand. A huge claw looms over the room, and the power cables all seem to converge around here…looks like we're at the geth ship!

True enough, Kaidan announces that to the rest of the squad. "Looks like we've found it," he says. "But unless someone's hiding a rocket launcher somewhere, we're going to need some other way of getting rid of that."

"Maybe the turian's got one hidden up his ass," Wrex suggests jovially. "That would explain a lot."

The outraged look on Garrus's face from my kill-stealing grows even wider at Wrex's words, but the sight of a geth destroyer and some regular troopers down below silences the squabble that would otherwise be inevitable.

"On second thoughts, rush tactics on a destroyer isn't such a good idea," Shepard admits. "But these guy's are bunched close together. If we lay down some grenades, we can probably take them out in one explosion."

"Explosions," Wrex smiles. "This is more like it." Ooh, using grenades…part of my brain is nagging that we should save them for the colonists when we get the gas attachment…but then again, we've got much more of a grenade supply considering Shepard isn't the only one with them like in the game **(A/N: Which you just lost,) **meaning that we should theoretically be able to do this without too much to worry about. Again, I get the horrible feeling that this is going to be one of those things where theory varies wildly from practice…but it's not like I've got any way of telling Shepard we need to save them, so why the hell not? Nothing like a good explosion to liven things up.

Shepard leads the attack, spinning a grenade straight onto the geth destroyer, as Kaidan and Garrus throw one each near another cluster of geth. Wrex hurls his somewhat randomly, clearly wanting to just blow _something _up, and I get a lucky throw that lands on a shock trooper. Oh, sweet! He is getting dealt with! I get ready to remote detonate the grenade…

"Now!" Shepard yells, stabbing down on her detonator with a finger as the rest of us. There's a huge noise as all the grenades go off at once, temporarily deafening me and knocking me over from my crouched position as a huge ball of flame rises up over the area below us.

"No survivors, Shepard" Garrus confirms as the noise dies down, leaving a dull ringing in my ears. Christ, can't say I was expecting that…but damn, it was certainly effective. We even created a little crater in the ground where all the explosions happened, which looks pretty awesome, as do all the geth parts scattered everywhere. Actually, this should conclude the fighting…yeah, I can see the console for the hangar doors up ahead. Obligatory puzzle, go!

Shepard jogs up to it and starts reading the instructions quickly, nodding lightly to herself as she gets an understanding of how the system works, before she starts examining all the different pressure switches. This should take her no time at all…

"What the hell is that, Shepard?" Wrex asks, sounding a bit surprised at the sudden change of pace from fighting to puzzle solving.

"If I raise the pressure on this just the right amount, and then close the doors, it should be able to shear the ship from the building," Shepard mutters as she continues looking at the switches, throwing one with her right hand. "It's a bit like a puzzle, I suppose."

"Puzzle?" Wrex scoffs. "Have fun with that." Shepard throws another switch, then walks back over to the console, pressing another as she goes.

"That should do it…" the Commander mutters, seemingly to herself, and presses the buttons. There's an almighty screeching sound from the doors as they race together, then an enormous crack followed by yet another explosion as the claw from the geth ship is torn off, and the doors slam shut as the critically damaged craft falls towards the ground. The shaking from the explosion suddenly stops, leaving us all standing in an almost shocked silence. Oh yeah, that's how it's done!

"Well, that's one way of getting the fields down," Garrus finally says. "We should be able to get out of here now, deal with that Thorian the VI was talking about."

"This was my kind of mission, rounded off with a nice bit of carnage," Wrex says happily. "I could get to like working with you, Shepard."

"What, you don't already?" she gasps, feigning hurt. "You could have –"

There's a sudden interruption as Joker's voice crackles through into my ear, and Shepard lifts a hand up to her to engage communications.

"_I repeat, Normandy to shore party, are you reading? Anyone there? Come on Commander, talk to me!" _Joker's voice says, unmistakable over the radio. Shit, he sounds urgent…I wonder how long he was actually trying to contact us for.

"We're here, Joker, the geth blocked out communications for a little bit but we've taken care of it," Shepard explains, smiling to herself. "What's the situation back at the colony."

"_The situation? We're in lockdown here Commander, something happened to the colonists." _Shepard's smile is immediately gone, replaced with a worried frown as we all listen intently to Joker's words. This is where it all begins to go to hell, I just know it… "_They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship!"_

"It's not like they can do any damage," Shepard reassures him. "We're on our way back, just sit tight. And make sure no-one goes out there!"

"_Roger that, Commander, I think I'm going to have a hard enough time keeping people in. Ash is more than ready to start shooting!" _God, she would…

"I'm on my way, Joker," the Commander repeats. "Shepard out." As soon as the radio transmission ends, her fist clench and she sighs heavily.

"Shit…" she mutters. "This is worse than I thought."

"ExoGeni knew this was going to happen all along," Garrus says, sounding angry. "I bet that Jeong guy was in on it too! Maybe even Lizbeth!"

"We can ask them that when we find them," Kaidan says, trying to be the voice of reason. "Right now, we need to get out of here and head back to the Normandy. That should take priority."

"He's right," Shepard nods. "Back to the Mako and Lizbeth, people, double time!" And with that, she sets off at a brisk jog back the way we came, the rest of us following close behind, the words I'd like to say to Jeong's smug face when we see him already forming in my mind…

###########

"You know, I really don't like being lied to," Shepard says to Lizbeth. "Especially when it's about something as important as this. So you might want to rethink what you said earlier." I didn't take us long to meet up with the young researcher again, but the reunion wasn't as warm as most of the squad was probably expecting when we first left her…funny how your opinion of people can change that quickly.

"I was afraid!" Lizbeth protests. "They threatened me when I wanted to stop the tests! Told me that I'd be next! What was I supposed to do? I stayed behind to send a message to colonial affairs when the geth attacked, but the power cut before I could tell them where the Thorian is. This…wasn't suppose to happen."

"I'm the next best thing to colonial affairs," Shepard says, folding her arms. "So why don't you tell me where the Thorian is?"

"Underneath Zhu's Hope, but the entrance is blocked!" Lizbeth explains frantically. "It got covered with the freighter by the colonists before the geth attack."

"It still doesn't make sense," Garrus speak up. "Why would the geth be after the Thorian anyway? Mind control wouldn't really work on a large scale…"

"Theoretically, it could. That's why ExoGeni were so interested in it, for it's mind control capabilities," Lizbeth says. "I don't know what the geth would want with it though…"

"Or Saren," Shepard mutters darkly. Before any of us can say anything else though, Joker's voice comes through the comms again.

"_Bad news, people, picked up some geth comms chatter back here. Looks like they're heading your way," _the helmsman informs us, grimly. It's all good news around here, isn't it…first we've got infected colonists, now a platoon of geth are about to show up on our doorstep.

"Never a dull moment, eh?" I say sardonically, raising a few smiles from the group. At least we've still got humour…

"You didn't sign up for them," Shepard replies, before turning back to Lizbeth, sounding a bit calmer now. "Look, I understand you were threatened, and if you were really trying to get the message out then you're alright by me. But I'd be surprised if Ethan Jeong had the same excuse…"

Kaidan taps Shepard on the shoulder to get her attention. "With respect, Commander, can we walk and talk? I'd rather be in the Mako when the geth turn up."

"Fair enough," Shepard nods, leading the short walk back to the vehicle and looking back at Lizbeth. "Your mother was looking for you, by the way, at an outpost not far from here. I'm having a word with Jeong regardless, so if you want me to drop you there it's not a problem."

"My mother's still alive?" Lizbeth gasps. We never told her back when we first met up, did we…fuck, that was stupid. "Yes, of course drop me off there!"

"Okay," Shepard says, smiling, as we approach the Mako and the doors slide open for us all. "But you might want to buckle up, cos it's gonna be a wild ride getting there!"

My head's already aching at the thought from where it got bumped on the way here…

##########

"Shepard, you were thinking of talking with Jeong?" I ask, as we roll on down the skyway. The journey so far wasn't particularly eventfull, only a surprisingly small amount of geth between us and the outpost that were dealt with easily, thanks to Garrus on the turret and Shepard's dodging skills. Wrex and I already made damn clear to the turian that turret kills don't count, which is a weight off my mind…but now I've started thinking about Jeong, and I'm very much interested of having a 'chat' with the ExoGeni man myself…

"I was," the Commander nods from the driving seat. "See what additional information I can dig up from him about all the stuff going on around here. Why do you ask?"

"Well…" I say, slowly, still not sure if she's going to go for this. "Back at C-Sec, Garrus and I did a fair share of interrogations. And these things normally go much better when you've got two people asking the questions."

"So what are you thinking, good cop, bad cop?" Shepard replies.

"Got it in one," I nod. "It's clichéd, but that doesn't mean it's not effective. Just putting it forward as an idea."

Shepard thinks it over for a second, as we head down the ramp towards the outpost. "Alright," she finally says. "But only if I get to be bad cop."

"That's the plan I had in mind," I agree, pleased she's gone for it. I don't exactly know how long I'm going to be able to keep good cop up for with Jeong…but at least I'll be able to get a few words in now. And if it comes to shooting him, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Suddenly, a few disjointed words come through the Mako radio as we pull in closer to the outpost. It's hard to make out what's being said…but I've got a pretty good idea what it's about, and Lizbeth springs on it immediately.

"That's my mother!" she yells. "Stop the rover! Stop it!"

Shepard slams the brakes on, and Lizbeth is out the Mako before it even stops completely. Shit, if we don't give her back up, Jeong might shoot her if Shepard's not there as a deterrent!

"Lizbeth, wait!" the Commander shouts as loud as she dares, leaping out the Mako and dashing after the researcher as we all follow suit, and survey the scene unfolding before us. Jeong's pacing around as we all hide behind one of the crates lain about on the ramp down to the area, and I can just make out Juliana's voice as Ethan seems to get progressively angrier.

"You can't do this, Jeong!" she shouts.

"Everyone, shut up!" Ethan yells, still pacing and sounding desperate. "Let me think!"

"You won't get away with this!" Juliana continues shouting, as a security guard heads behind and grabs her arms, restraining her. Great, this is going to set Lizbeth off, isn't it…

"Let go of her, you bastards!" she shouts. Yep, I knew it! Here we go! Shepard reaches out an arm to try and stop her, but Lizbeth continues forward regardless towards her mother, and they embrace while Jeong pulls his pistol and points it towards the crates where we're all hiding. "Damn it! Come out! Come out where I can see you!"

Shepard grimaces as he says that, but beckons for us all to follow her down into the main area. "Remember, good cop, bad cop," she whispers to me as we walk towards Jeong. Alright, here goes nothing…

"Shit, Shepard…" Ethan sighs angrily as we stand in front of him. "I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you, and your damn squad. Found some interesting facts about you in the ExoGeni database, you know. I know what happened during the Skylian blitz, but this isn't like that! It doesn't have to end the same way!"

"I don't know about that," Shepard growls. "This is going to end exactly how I want it to. So maybe you should let them go, before someone gets hurt."

"It's never that easy, is it, Shepard?" Ethan asks, sounding slightly hysterical. "Communications are back up, and it turns out ExoGeni wants this place purged. Which is what I'm doing!"

"It's a human colony, you can't just repurpose us!" Lizbeth protests, but it falls on deaf ears as Jeong just ignores her.

"There's something here far more valuable than a few colonists!" Jeong reminds her scathingly, keeping his eyes firmly on myself and Shepard to check we don't try anything clever. Think it's time to get the good cop act rolling…

"Look, Jeong, we know about the Thorian," I say, "but we don't need all this to happen. Help us out here, disobey your orders, and we can help you later!"

Juliana looks shocked when I mention the Thorian. "What the hell is a Thorian?" she asks incredulously.

"It's a telepathic lifeform underneath Zhu's Hope," Lizbeth explains. "It's controlling the colonists, ExoGeni knew all along!" She points an accusing finger at Jeong, who once again pretty much ignores her.

"We can cut a deal here, Jeong!" I insist. "You don't have to do this! Convince your superiors to help the colonists out rather than purging this place, and we can give you something in return." It's a desperate gambit, considering I have no idea what we could give him, but I'm praying it works…

"Only thing I'm considering giving him is a bullet between the eyes," Shepard growls. Good…now he's pretty much facing a choice between a deal, or certain death. Surely he's not that stupid…

Jeong suddenly lifts his pistol, pointing it straight at Shepard's head. Holy shit, he is! Both Shepard and I draw a pistol and point it at Jeong, entering a stand-off situation. Too bad he's going to lose.

"What happened to good cop?" Shepard whispers to me out the corner of her mouth.

"He stopped deserving one," I reply, calmly holding Ethan's stare and squaring my sights on his head. Looks like negotiations have failed, then…

"Nobody's going to miss a few colonists!" he shouts, sounding more and more crazy by the second. "I'm an officer for ExoGeni! How dare you point your weapons at me!"

"I'm a Spectre for the Council," Shepard shoots back coolly. "You lose." And with that, the Commander fires one shot straight into Jeong's chest. He takes one step back, staring dumbfounded at the steadily growing circle of blood where the bullet hit him, mouth open as if to say something but the words are stuck in his throat. Even after all he's done, he doesn't deserve to just bleed out like this…

I fire one mercy shot into his head, and Ethan Jeong finally crumples to the ground, dead. There's a flurry of noise as both the security guards and the rest of the squad draw their weapons and point them at each other. We can't enter a firefight here, not with all the civilians around…

"He's dead, you've lost, so put them away!" I shout quickly, going for the hyper-confident approach as I turn my gun on one of the security guards. "Too many people have died already today, so don't make this any worse than it has to be!" Reluctantly, the security guards lower their weapons, and I let out the sigh of relief I didn't even realise I was holding in. That could have gone so much worse…and now Jeong's dead. I'm not sure what I was expecting to feel, maybe a little bit happy or something…but it's not there. He was a bastard, but did that mean he had to die?

"We had no choice," Shepard says, as if she can read my thoughts. "He was a danger to everyone here."

"As if we don't have enough problems already," Juliana sighs. "Now we're shooting each other in the back!"

"In the front," Wrex corrects her, but we all just ignore him.

"This is my fault," Lizbeth says despondently. "I knew this was all going to happen! I should have stopped it!"

"You did good work," Kaidan reassures her. "At least you tried to stop all this."

Lizbeth nods, albeit a little sadly, while Juliana addresses Shepard again. "So, what are you going to do now, Commander?"

"I've got the colony to save," Shepard says, immediately. "Plus I need to find out why the geth were after the Thorian in the first place."

"Those colonists aren't just going to let us waltz in there and get the Thorian, Shepard, based on what Joker was saying," I point out. "It'll probably influence them to die rather than give up."

"Hmm…" Juliana says, raising her hand to her chin. "Actually, you might be able to neutralise the colonists with a nerve agent I could fit on your grenades rather than actually killing them. Like gas grenades, I suppose."

"That's much more like it," Shepard agrees. "Do it."

"Great," Lizbeth says. "Thank you, Commander." And with that, she hands over a grenade attachment to all of us, which I fit immediately. Looks like we're all set…time to end this.

"You'd better hurry," Juliana explains. "The sooner this ends, the better."

"Okay," Shepard says, finishing her grenade adjustments and turning back towards the Mako. "I'll do what I can. Everyone, back to the Mako."

And with that, we jog back towards the tank, the corpse of Ethan Jeong still laid out as a grim reminder of our presence.

##########

"No casualties to the colonists, is that clear?" Shepard says firmly as she manoeuvres the Mako around two geth armatures in a pretty daring manoeuvre. "We're here to save them, not bring the damn colony to its knees."

There's a chorus of 'roger that' and 'you got it' from around the Mako interior, as I grip firmly onto the seat and lock my feet underneath the seat as we bounce over a slight raised section of road. This is it…better make sure my grenade throwing skills are-

A huge crash into the side of the Mako knocks me off my train of thought, followed up by another one into the back. What the fuck is going on!

"Shields are down!" Shepard yells. "Damn it! We got hit by those armatures!" Oh shit, this is not good! We make it about a hundred more metres before a frantic beeping starts from the main console in the Mako and it slews horribly to the side as Shepard twists the steering wheel in vain.

"Shit, they shot two of the wheels out!" she shouts. "We'll have to make the rest on foot, I can't stop this thing! Everyone bail out, now!" Oh my God, this is really bad, I'm freaking out! The doors on the Mako slide open, letting Wrex and Shepard leap out while Garrus makes his escape through the roof. Kaidan hops out in front of me…but when I move to follow him, my right foot gets caught on the seat where I jammed it in to stop me flying around in the Mako, and I get pulled back as the Mako continues hurtling towards the edge of the skyway. I keep tugging frantically at it, feeling whatever's caught me starting to give way…I can see the edge rushing towards me out of the windscreen! Fuckfuckfuck!

With a sudden snap, my foot finally breaks free, and I rush to my feet to escape…just as the Mako tips over the edge of the skyway, and begins its decent to the ground hundreds of metres below. I hurl myself out the door as the floor tilts to a 45º angle, stretching out for the edge of the skyway as far as I can as the Mako falls below me…but the sinking feeling in my stomach as my fingers just miss confirm it's too little, too late.

And with a yell of shock and fear, I begin to fall.

**A/N: WOOOO! Cliffhanger! It's been too long since I put one in.**

**I might actually get Feros finished next chapter in one big colonist fight/Thorian extravaganza, but we'll wait and see. I think I will…but it's probably gonna take a while to write, so bear with me! **

**Enjoy the chapter/fic as a whole? Then review! Thanks to everyone who has so far, it's awesome. **

**Alright, see you next chapter!**


	9. Ian vs The Acid

Chapter 9

Colonist Fight- Celldweller: Switchback

Thorian Fight- Forest Boss Theme from Super Meat Boy

**A/N: Some people might have started to notice, I'm pretty much using Celldweller for a lot of action chapters. Thanks, Dead Rising 2!**

**And I had to include a song from Super Meat Boy. Epic game.**

**Here goes, final showdown on Feros! Also, since this chapter is so large, spellcheck isn't going to be the silver bullet it normally is...but hopefully nothing major like saying Kaidan is an L3 biotic rather than L2 will slip through again. Enjoy!**

Still yelling, my stomach lurches up in my chest horribly as gravity kicks in and starts to drag me down, my hand still outstretched to the skyway, vainly grabbing at air as I feel myself tipping backwards. There's no dramatic music, no slow-motion moment as I fall, just the wind whistling through my ears and horrible realisation I'm going to die as the jump peaks and I start to drop the first few centimetres. I wonder how long it'll take me to hit the ground, how long I've got to consider everything that's-

Out of nowhere, I feel a three fingered hand grab onto my wrist just as I start picking up downward momentum, and a grunt of effort from above as I look up in shock to see Garrus looking down at me, talon firmly holding onto my wrist. Jesus Christ, I'm still freaking out, dangling from one turian's talon above an enormous drop…shit, this must be what Nathan Drake feels like, and it's not a good feeling!

"I got you!" Garrus shouts above the wind, looking down at me as he tries his best to pull me up to safety. He must have ran to the edge to see if I made it out the Mako…thank Christ he did! "You know, I could always drop you, that's one less in the competition," he gasps, though it sounds like it's taking a lot out of him to simply talk.

"Garrus, I am not in the fucking mood!" I yell, adrenaline still pumping through my system after all that shit. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the armature's head turning its attention towards us…oh fuck! "Pull me up, now!" I shout frantically, scrabbling for the skyway with my free hand. I can literally see the glowing blue orb forming on the armature as it prepares to fire on our precarious position…

"Feel free to help at any time here!" Garrus grunts, pulling up hard with his arm just as I manage to get a firm handhold and hoist myself back up onto the skyway…just as the geth fires at us. These bastards really want us dead!

"Garrus!" I shout, pushing him to the floor with me as the energy shot passes just above us. I don't even want to know what would happen if one of those hit me, but something tells me it probably wouldn't be good…yeah, I definitely don't plan on finding out.

"Okay, now we're even!" Garrus gasps. Shepard waves frantically at us from her position about twenty metres away, sprinting towards the colony with Kaidan and Wrex in tow. That's got to be at least four hundred metres back to the relative safety of the garage…fuck, I hate long sprints! Garrus scrambles back up to his feet, grabbing my arm and lifting me up with him as we both sprint towards Shepard, the sound of assault rifle fire and the occasional enormous boom from an armature's weapon speeding us on our way. Two hundred metres, and we've pulled even with Shepard and the rest of squad, constantly taking furtive glances over out backs to make sure we're not going to get a cannon shot to the face.

Thankfully, the geth seem to pretty much give up on us as soon as we make it within about a hundred metres of the colony, turning back immediately as soon as we pass some invisible threshold, letting us all slow down to breath and recover. My lungs are burning like hell, I've got a massive bloody ache in both legs…I thought I was in good shape, and this mission is fucking killing me! Better hit the gym a bit more when I get back on the Normandy…

"They stopped," Shepard observes, as we watch the retreating geth. "Why the hell would they do that?"

"Geth operate purely on logic, Shepard," I say. "So as far as I can tell, they think that whatever's in that garage isn't worth risking to try and kill us." Which is probably a fair assumption on their part…

"That's reassuring," she mutters, drawing her pistol and advancing cautiously towards the garage. "If the colonists have the geth running, this is worse than I feared. Everyone make sure you've got those gas grenades ready and primed, understand?"

"We could just shoot them," Wrex points out. "We're here for the Thorian, and trying to save these people is just going to slow us down. They're trying to kill us, and as far as I'm concerned anything between us and that Thorian thing is fair game."

"You fire one shot at a colonist, it's the last thing you'll ever do, you get me?" Shepard snaps at the krogan, eyes ablaze as she whirls around to face him. "They're not acting of their own free will, so as far as _I'm _concerned we save as many as we can. That clear?"

It says something about the reputation Shepard's built up for herself that the krogan nods and backs off immediately, despite the fact he's almost pure muscle and towers almost twice as tall as Shepard. "Crystal. Sorry, Shepard." Did Wrex just apologise? That's unfair, actually, it's not like he's really childish and won't admit when he's in the wrong, or something…

"It's alright, tensions are running high already," Shepard says, sounding a bit more calm. "I can what you mean, but I'm not shooting innocents to speed things up." Kaidan nods solemnly at her words, as we step into the garage…and the first sighting of a Thorian creeper stops us in our tracks.

The most noticeable thing is the smell when we walk in. The previous scent of burning and metal from when we were last here has been replaced with a pungent odour that smells almost like decaying flesh, faintly permeating the air and making most of the squad gasp with disgust as it hits our nostrils. Only Wrex remains firm, but even he doesn't look happy with the sudden change in atmosphere. But that smell has got nothing on the thing creating it.

Even having fought these things before, it still hasn't prepared me for seeing one of these head on, in the flesh. Not even a little bit. Clawed hands, greying skin, mouth drawn back in some sick and twisted looking smile…it unfolds itself from it's weird crouched position all curled up, fixing us all with a stare for its completely dead eyes.

"What…the fuck…is that?" Garrus breathes, as the creeper makes a low gurgling noise and takes one unsteady step towards us. I tighten my grip on my pistols, training both of them firmly onto the creeper. Can't start shooting until Shepard gives the order…

"I don't know," Shepard whispers back to the turian. "Is that one of the colonists?"

"The Thorian controls minds, but Lizbeth and that VI didn't say they mutated people," I point out. The less grenades we waste, the better, so I don't want to be grenading a creeper when I could use it to save a colonist…and hinting Shepard towards the difference between creeper and colonist could be very useful in that department. "This looks like something different, almost like a zombie."

The creeper takes another lumbering step forward, still staring at us all with those empty eyes. "I've got to agree with you there," Shepard replies, biting her lip. "I don't know, though, they look pretty ca-"

With a gurgling scream, the creeper suddenly rushes straight at Kaidan, acidic bile already forming around the edges of its mouth. The reaction from everyone is pure instinct, all of us shooting at it straight away, bullets punching through its flesh with a hissing noise. Kaidan himself lands the finishing shot, and the creeper literally pops into a pool of acid, which slowly disappears into the floor.

"That's…messed up," Garrus finally says. "Whatever that thing was, Ian's right, it's no colonist."

"Good thing there was just the one of them," Kaidan mutters, sounding pretty relieved and heading over to the controls that open up the main door into the garage. "We wouldn't last in a fight with a whole horde!" Oh, Kaidan…someone's going to be in for a surprise…

And with the Lieutenant's words, the door slides open…revealing about eight more creepers curled up straight in front of us, and the unmistakable sound of gunfire from the defence post mounted on the raised platform to our left. Unfortunately, the indoctrinated colonists are shooting at us, not the creepers. Damn it! My shields take a few hits as we all dash behind the little cover available to us, but thankfully hold up as Garrus and I double team a creeper on the way there. My bullet is the one that secures the kill, raising a small cheer from me and a groan from Garrus as we both crouch next to each other, blind-firing at the encroaching group of creepers while trying not to shoot any colonists by accident. Which is a hell of a lot easier said than done!

"I owe you one, Garrus, for saving me back there," I say, then pop out of cover to get a better shot on one of the creepers. I get my target…but the constant stream of bullets from the colonists knocks my shields back down and forces me into cover yet again. Shit!

"Don't mention it," the turian replies, picking off a creeper on the other end of the room with his sniper rifle. I've pretty much given up on counting the kills myself now…Garrus's visor should be doing that for me, so it'll be interesting to see the totals after we're done here.

"You were worried about me, weren't you?" I tease him, as he drops back to cover with a curse as the colonists turn on him. Opposite us, Wrex, Kaidan and Shepard are putting in work with sheer biotic carnage, a flurry of blue bolts tearing the creepers apart left, right and centre. Fuck, that's gonna put Wrex well ahead… "Running to the edge after the Mako, lunging to grab me."

"Don't flatter yourself, Ian," he smirks. "I spent hours calibrating that thing, I was hoping it wasn't damaged!" The creeper numbers have been significantly thinned out…I unclip a grenade from my belt, looking around the small barrier Garrus and I are crouched behind and judging the trajectory I'll need to stop those damn colonists tearing me a new one. There's a line for me to follow with the grenade there…and these beauties usually fly pretty damn straight.

I lean out and hurl it as hard as I can at the colonists position, diving back as bullets pepper the ground where my head was. I've got literally no idea where that landed…but hopefully I got lucky, and there's only one way to find out! I remote detonate the grenades, and a cloud of green gas engulfs the colonist's position, and I can see them twitching and falling to the floor, completely paralysed. That's the stuff!

"We're clear to move up, Shepard!" I inform her over the radio.

"_Roger that, Ian, coming your way," _she replies, and I see the rest of the squad beginning to advance up the ramp and into the colony. Garrus and I fall in line behind them, Shepard shooting one last creeper as she passes by it without even looking. Badass, is all I can say about that.

We all head into the elevator, breathing hard, as Shepard sets it to descend and we take a well deserved breather. For once, I'm incredibly grateful for slow elevators.

"So far, no colonist casualties," Kaidan says, trying to break the silence. "That colonist we saw in the tunnels was there, Shepard, the one shouting about the master's whip or something?"

"He was under the Thorian's control the whole time, that's why he couldn't tell us," Shepard sighs. "They all were. Damn it."

"There's no way we could have known about all this, Shepard," Garrus says comfortingly. "I just thought they were shell-shocked or something. Hell, we all did!"

Shepard shakes her head slightly. "You're right. But this place seemed weird from the start. I should have left some people back at the colony, acted on my suspicions!"

"If you did that, the people you left would either be dead, or all the colonists would," I point out. "You did everything right, Shepard, believe me." I know for a fact she did everything right, as well, even if she can't appreciate that…well, everything except driving the Mako off a skyway.

She nods, firmly. "I know. Besides, we can still save these colonists. Speaking of which, how's everyone doing for grenades?"

I check my utility belt, as the rest of the squad does the same. I only had four at the start of the mission, and I've used two blowing up geth and taking down the colonists. Damn, I was hoping for a few more…

"Two," I tell Shepard.

Wrex nods next to me. "Two as well."

"I've just got the one," Kaidan tells her. "I don't usually carry grenades, never seem to use them. The irony isn't lost on me."

"I've got three, Shepard," Garrus says. Show off.

"I'm pretty low myself, two left," Shepard announces, sounding annoyed. "We're going to have to make these count then, people."

The elevator doors slide open, and we all stride out into the corridor, as I walk up front with Shepard. "We could always just do it the old fashioned way," I joke, heading around the corner into the colony…and straight into the bile of a creeper who was hiding just around the corner.

I stagger back, yelling in shock as the acid starts to eat away at my armour. Part of it seeps through the already thinned parts of armour where the alpha varren clawed me…and starts burning away at my skin underneath! Aaagh! Holy shit, that fucking stings! There's an agonising delay of about a second for my suit to realise what's happening and to apply the medigel, by which time I feel like half my chest's been eaten away. Shepard and the rest of the squad blow the offending creeper away, along with his two friends who were lying in wait for us as well, but I'm too busy collapsing against a wall, clutching at the area where the cooling gel is fighting a desperate battle with the acid burning through me like fire. Creeper threat dealt with, Shepard and Garrus dash over to me and kneel next to me.

"Ian!" Shepard takes a look at the area where I got hit, looking and sounding pretty worried. "Are you alright?"

The burning sensation is gradually dying as the medigel starts putting in work, letting me gasp in a few lungfulls of air.

"I'll be fine," I manage to finally gasp, coughing out a bit of blood onto the floor next to me. Shepard and Garrus both look concerned as I do that, but I struggle back up to my feet despite the horrible headrush it gives me. "It's just a flesh wound, albeit a really fucking painful one."

"You sure?" Shepard asks. "If you can't make it, I can have someone wait here with you until it's all clear."

"No!" I protest, quickly. "I'm ready to move out, Shepard, just tell me where to shoot." My throat still stings from coughing out blood, as does my chest from the acid…but I'm not lying about being ready. I've been thrown around by an alpha varren already today, been smacked in the face with an assault rifle, taken more than a few scratches from stray bullets and stone chips, and jumped out of a Mako while it was falling hundreds of feet. So like hell is a little burn going to stop me!

Shepard looks unsure for a second, before smiling wide and slapping me on the back. "Good man," she says, and I get a sudden proud feeling as she does so. Well, it's either a proud feeling or acid eating away at my insides, and the latter sounds a lot more painful than what I'm feeling at the moment. Up ahead, Shepard lobs one of her remaining grenades through the doorway, presumably incapacitating the two colonists I remember are standing there. At least we're making good progress, except for that little slip up with me and the acid…

Bursting around the corner into the stairwell, Wrex tears into one of the creepers waiting for us with his shotgun while I unleash a frenzy of pistol bullets on the other with a renewed vigour, neither of us stopping movement on the way down. Garrus kicks another over the edge of the stairwell, the splattering noise when it hits the floor far more satisfying than it should be. I can see the main colony out of the door in front of us…where there's weird sounding yells from the colonists as they catch sight of us. Brilliant. Why can we never get the drop on anyone…

"There's got to be at least four of them out there, firmly behind cover," Shepard notes as we stack up on the walls next to the doorway. "We're going to need a grenade flurry to take them out safely." Shit, we're burning through these nades far faster than I'd like…all in the interests of avoiding genocide, though! "Anyone who's got two grenades left, this would be a good time to use one of them!"

Garrus and Wrex take a step forward, taking a grenade each to throw, as Shepard primes her and lobs it around the corner, both krogan and turian following suit. There's a dull bang as the grenades release their gas loads, followed by several thumps as the colonists hit the deck. We're just blazing through these people, now the initial shock of what we're dealing with has worn off…though this is nothing compared to what we're going to face in the Thorian's lair, I know it. I glance down at the one grenade on my belt…I'm not the best throw, and it looks like Shepard's out. I guess I could do her a favour…

"Take my grenades, Shepard, you're a better throw than me," I say, tapping her on the shoulder just as we prepare to break into the open.

"Thanks Ian, I owe you one," she smiles, clipping the grenade to her armour. "In that case, you take care of the creepers, Garrus and I will get the colonists with gas."

"Alright," I nod. I'm still amazed slightly by this whole situation…a student who arrived here just over two years ago with no combat experience now fending off zombie plants and colonists being controlled telepathically…life will never cease to amaze me. Not in this universe, anyway.

We're up and moving again, heading onto a guard-railed walkway with three creepers on it. They're torn apart by our combined gunfire before they can even unfold, Shepard not even bothering with biotics like she normally does. I can see the crane straight ahead as we run…plus a whole load of creepers and colonists. Damn, gonna have to watch my fire…

Shepard blasts a charging creeper with a warp on its approach, exploding it like a firework while it's still standing up. A weird firework that explodes horrible acid instead of pretty colours…gunfire from the colonists puts me off my desperate search for a good analogy, though. Clipping my shields and getting dangerously close to where my armour's already been clawed and burnt away slightly, I back up into cover as Shepard and Garrus search for the best angle for the grenade throw. I watch them as my shield's recharge…and I've got to say, they work well together. Garrus covering every angle Shepard's missing, never firing on the same target, almost as if they can read each others mind. It takes a certain kind of relationship to be attuned with someone that well…as far as I know, the only person Garrus has worked with this well before Shepard is…well, it's me! So him and Shepard must be getting close through battle already, whether they know it yet or not…

"You going to shoot something?" a deep voice rumbles from next to me. I snap my head around in shock to see Wrex staring at me, bemused look on his face. "I mean, I'm getting easy kills here while you just daydream, but it's beginning to feel like I'm cheating."

"Sorry, just waiting for my shields to recharge," I reply quickly, snatching my pistol up and putting a hole in one creeper's head as it charges towards Kaidan.

"They were up almost five seconds ago," Wrex points out. "You were looking over at the turian and Shepard with this weird expression your face." With a grunt, he blows another creeper away with his shotgun, but keeps the conversation going regardless. "Something distracting you?"

"Well…" I splutter, helplessly searching for some excuse. "I…"

"I see it too," Wrex mutters, not even bothering to wait from an answer from me. Wait, what? "I can't believe that turian…not even going for his own species. You agree?" Wrex thinks it as well? Still don't quite fancy getting into talking about turian-human relationships with him though, of all people… shit, got to find a way out of the conversation!

"Watch out!" I yell, firing at a random creeper well out my range.

"What?" Wrex grunts. "I don't see it!"

"There was a colonist shooting at you," I say, far quicker than what would sound normal. "You just missed him. Scared him off."

"They're indoctrinated, how the hell can you scare them…" Thankfully, Shepard finally manages to take down the remaining colonists with a gas grenade salvo, assisted by Garrus, and a sudden silence descends on the colony. I'm almost feeling more comfortable with gunfire sounding the entire time…

Shepard dashes over to the lift, fiddling with a few buttons as we all head out of cover and stand in wait. There's a sudden lurch from the machine, and a whirring noise and the underground tunnel is revealed. I feel a horrible lurch in my stomach as the path opens up…knowing what's waiting for us down there. I almost wish I'd stayed back when I had the chance…

A sudden sound makes us all whirl around 180º, in time to see Fai Dan hobbling towards us, his movements awkward and unsteady. Of course, the one man still fighting…

"I tried to fight it," he manages to groan, still advancing slowly. "But it gets in your head! You can't even begin to imagine the pain…"

Shepard narrows her eyes, still staring down the pistol sights. I'm all out of grenades…and no-one else is making a move to try and neutralise Fai Dan, bar all of us pointing guns at him. What if I could save him, shoot the gun out of his hands or something…

I clamp down on that idea as soon as I think it. I can't change events, lest they have an effect on the universe as a whole…it's like what Shiara said, even the smallest thing I do could have dire ramifications…but is saving one person really going to lead to our destruction? I aim down my sights towards his hand, mind ablaze with all the possibilities. What could Fai Dan do if he survived…perhaps the colony wouldn't end up signing for those drug tests on Ilium, but then what would that mean bar a small effect on the asari economy?

"I was supposed to be their leader," Fai Dan gasps suddenly. "They trusted me…" His pistol is out before any of us can move to respond, and is pointed straight at Shepard's head. My sight's still on his hand…but can I really do this? If I start to change things now, where does it end?

"It wants me to stop you!" the colony leader forces out, clearly in agony. "But…I…won't!" It's now or never! My aim is spot on, my finger tightens on the trigger…

"I WON'T!" Fai Dan yells, and before I can shoot the gun's at his temple, before the shot makes us all look away, and my finger slides off the trigger. I almost feel sick, staring at the corpse of the man in front of us all, bleeding from his head wound. I could have saved him…whether or not I should have is another question entirely, but that's something I'm going to have to live with now…and I'll have to keep doing this for the rest of my life, here. Knowing people are going to die, still not stopping it even though I can…shit, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up, especially after everything it lead to with Rebecca…

"Poor bastard," Shepard mutters sadly, turning her attention towards the opening in front of us. "Whatever's causing this is down there. Too many people have died here, today. I don't care what Saren's after here now, we're probably too late to stop it anyway. All I know is, this ends here." We all nod solemnly at her words, taking a moment to absorb all the carnage around us. Seeing this all in real life…it's truly humbling.

Kaidan finally breaks the silence, taking a step towards the opening. "Well said. Time to finish what we started."

#########

"I think I'm going to throw up," Kaidan groans, as we descend into the underbelly of the colony. The smell down here is truly disgusting, the pungent odour of the creeper mixed in with something else…I don't know if evil has a smell, but if it does it's probably whatever's filling my nostrils right now. If it hadn't been for the creeper smell back in the colony making me slightly immune to this, plus the smell of countless crime scenes at C-Sec, I'd probably have chucked my guts up by now. Hell, even Wrex is looking a bit pale! This doesn't exactly bode well for what's up ahead, considering Kaidan looks half dead already.

"It's all in your head, just block it out," Shepard says calmly, though by the look on her face she's having a hard time leading by example. "You're not much use to me sick, Kaidan."

"Thanks for the sympathy, Doctor," he mutters back, as we descend. Shit, it can't be too far away now…my grip on the pistols tightens as we walk forwards. To be honest, it was fearsome enough running on the Mass Effect 1 engine, which wasn't actually amazing for graphics…what the hell is it going to look like in real life?

"Alright," Garrus says as we hit a stretch of straight corridor. "All we have to do is find this thing and…" we walk into the open chamber, where the Thorian finally reveals itself to us. "And…this wasn't what I was expecting."

"Got that right," I mutter back, taking in the monstrosity before us. That's an awful lot of tentacles, is the first thought that hits me. And it's awfully big. And like fuck is that a plant. No plant should be that large, weird looking, and deadly. End of.

Before I've got time to fill the squad in about what exactly I think of our new adversary, though, it's maw open wide…and in a stream of an acidic looking substance, a green asari slips out onto the floor in front of us, rising to her feet and fixing Shepard with a piercing glare. There's a vagina joke here that's _wide _open for me, but it really doesn't seem like the time.

"Invaders," she says, "every step you take is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, only good to dig or decompose." Wow, she's certainly a charmer… "I speak for the old growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe."

"Oh aye, I'm in awe. Your mother's so fat she makes Jabba the Hutt look anorexic," I reply, pointing at the Thorian. Shepard, Kaidan and Garrus all grin at that…holy shit, we've got Star Wars fans? I don't even like those films that much, but whatever…

"Silence!" she says, unblinking eyes swivelling towards me. And suddenly, I don't feel as confident. Damn, Devil May Cry making me want to say one liners, but I don't have a massive fucking sword to back me up… "Your meaningless insults have no ground here, meat!"

"You don't threaten my crew! We're here for what you gave Saren!" Shepard shoots back, defiantly, keeping her cool even in the face of the creature before us.

"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone, the old growth listened to flesh for the first time in a long cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing the flesh that would feed the next cycle." Ah, Saren screwed them over…can't even say I'm slightly surprised, and nobody else on the squad looks it either. "The old growth sees the air you push as lies, and will listen no more!"

"It's never that simple, is it?" Shepard sighs, drawing her pistol and aiming it straight at the asari, who flares up blue immediately and pushes the Commander backwards before she can react! Holy shit, the fight has begun! Shepard stumbles back, but I rush forward and kick the asari as hard as I can in the chest as she focuses on her biotics. With a yell, she flies off the edge of the platform we're all standing on, down into the depths below. Erm…that almost seemed far too easy.

"Nice kick," Garrus says approvingly, but a groan from nearby cuts off our banter. Here we go, it's boss fight time! The creepers gathered behind us while we were talking, but Kaidan and Wrex dispatch them quickly with biotics and shotgun blasts as Shepard makes her way back up to her feet, Garrus rushing over to help her up. I draw both pistols, executing a creeper coming down from the ramp up to the higher levels. Which is exactly where we need to go…

Shepard leads the charge to higher ground, unleashing a blitz of biotic attacks as she goes and creating a path for us all to follow. Up ahead, the first Thorian node reveals itself…okay, better clue everyone in!

"Guys!" I yell. "This thing looks like it could be hurt!"

"Roger that, everyone fire on that root!" Shepard shouts back. There's a flurry of bullets from the entire squad, and it barely takes ten seconds for us to destroy the node, accompanied by a roar of rage from the Thorian as we do so. Well, that can't ever be a good thing…

"Crap, there's another asari!" Garrus announces, barely ducking out of the way of a warp aimed at him. Fuck, this one isn't going to be as easy as kicking off a ledge…true enough, she launches a singularity directly at me. I react, shimmying to the side, but it's not quick enough. The singularity doesn't quite suck me in, but does send me staggering to the side…straight into the arms of a creeper standing in wait. You've got to be shitting me! It locks its slimy arms underneath my shoulders, holding me back as I hear its mouth slide open, the saliva literally dripping from its jaws as the bile starts to come up its throat with a horrible gurgling noise…

There's an enormous roar again, but this time it's not the Thorian. Instead, it's the enormous krogan hurtling towards me at high speed…oh shit! I barely duck under his huge fist as it hurtles towards my face, the thud as it impacts the creeper almost sickening. Its arms loosen, and I break free to turn and face it, pistol drawn…and see a headless creeper collapse to the floor, Wrex already turning to shoot at another one.

"You just punched that guy's head off!" I say, unable to contain my amazement. "How the _fuck_ did you manage that?"

"Years of practice," he just grunts back. "And that still counts as my kill." I blast a hole in two creepers heads, one with each pistol, and push forward after Shepard towards the next node. I freaking hate biotic enemies…first Caltan Xenvalis all that time ago at C-Sec, now some crazy asari clone…always get the worst of it, I swear!

Shepard and co. have pretty much taken down the root as Wrex and I arrive though, pushing forward before I've got time to catch my breath. There's hordes of creepers all over…but at least they go down easy, a couple of pistol shots taking care of them, combined with a punch or shove when they get too close. It's a long, hard slog for five minutes, as time simply seems to meld into a mix of dodging the occasional acid spew, firing until I can barely feel my fingers, throwing the odd mêlée move into the mix…until we've taken out three of the nodes.

We're running out of space to move around up…the last node's got to be around soon. I'm breathing heavily, arms heavy from constantly having my pistols raised, but sheer adrenaline keeps me going as the last node finally comes into sight. I must have killed at least ten or so creepers on the way up here, but honestly I've got no idea how many Wrex and Garrus managed themselves. Though my focus is far more on survival now, rather than keeping score of the bodycount I'm racking up. That's what Garrus's visor is for, anyway.

I launch a right hook at a creeper that gets way too close for comfort, sending it staggering into a perfect straight from Garrus that sends it flying off the edge, smashing on the ground below.

"I can't even get hand to hand kills without you stealing them as well?" I gasp, as we start mopping up the rest of the creepers in the area, Shepard with biotics, the rest of us firmly sticking with pistols. I don't know where she gets the energy from to constantly use the biotics like that…but it's bloody phenomenal!

"It's not like it makes a difference," Garrus replies cheekily, eyes drifting to the eyepiece. "You're on fifteen kills, I'm on eighteen and Wrex has twenty-one." He frowns when he sees that last one. "Damn." What the fuck, I'm LAST? That's so bootleg…

Creepers taken care of, I switch my fire to the root, firing both pistols as fast as I can until it finally pops open with a disgusting noise. There's a screech from downstairs, and we all rush over to see the Thorian's tentacles writhing madly. Shit, what if it's not...suddenly, the roots all start to disconnect, and with one final roar, the Thorian just drops far, far down into the depths below. Holy crap…that bitch went down like the Titanic.

"That counts as Ian's kill, according to my visor," Garrus says, breaking the silence as it disappears into the darkness.

"Still only counts as one," Wrex grumbles.

"I still can't believe it…we killed it! Or you killed it, kid," Kaidan says triumphantly. Across the wall from him, however, in a glowing orange pod, there's a sudden movement as it begins to crack. Of course, this is Shiala's cue to enter.

"It's never that easy, Kaidan," I say, aiming my pistol carefully at the asari figure who drops down into the room, despite the protest from my arms. I've got no intention of shooting her, of course…but best to do it anyway for appearance's sake. After all, I shouldn't know she's not going to attack.

"I'm free!" Shiala gasps, "I…I suppose I should thank you for releasing me!"

"You suppose?" Shepard asks, but her tone of voice doesn't imply she's being too serious. "Are you alright? Hurt in any way?"

"I'm fine…or I will be. In time," she responds, uncertainly.

"You sure?" Garrus asks. "If what that thing was keeping you in was anywhere near as bad as it looks, you can't just shrug it off."

"Asari have stronger minds than most, turian," she replies casually. "Anyway, my name is Shiala. I serve…well, I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I. We joined him to try and guide him down a gentler path…"

"Let me guess," I say, folding my arms. "You got in way over your heads."

"Indeed," she nods sadly. "Saren is compelling. Benezia lost her way. We both did."

"What, he can control minds now?" Shepard asks, sounding pretty worried. Shiala chuckles ruefully.

"Not quite. Benezia underestimated Saren, just as I did. Over time, we came to believe in his cause, and his goals. Mind control, no, but the strength of his influence is troubling."

"Influencing an asari takes something special," Wrex points out. "Troubling probably doesn't do it justice."

Shepard nods along to Wrex's words. "Matriarch's are among the most powerful beings in the galaxy. How the hell does one screwed up turian manage to influence one?"

"Saren has a vessel," Shiala explains. Shit, Sovereign…who needs a Thorian when you've got that guy around, right? "Bigger than anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers, and slowly but surely it can turn people to Saren's will. It can take days, weeks, but in the end it's always absolute."

"A ship that can control people's minds…maybe the Alliance should consider investing in a few," Kaidan quips, but Shepard shuts him up with a sideways glance.

"I was a willing slave when he brought me here," Shiala continues, ignoring Kaidan's comment. "He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian. I was offered up in trade for the secrets it held, to secure an alliance with Saren and the Thorian."

"That's messed up," Shepard says, sounding pretty horrified. "He's quick to betray his own people, then."

"Indeed. The Thorian was no exception. The geth were ordered to get rid of all the evidence of the Thorian's existence after he got what he wanted." And that's why all this shit happened…because Saren couldn't even be bothered to uphold one deal on his part. That bastard's got some serious issues… "Saren knows you're searching for the Conduit, that you're following his steps. The Thorian was attacked so you couldn't gain the Cipher."

I raise an eyebrow, trying to play the role of 'surprised squadmate' as best I can. "What in the hell's a Cipher?" I ask, getting a few nods from the rest of the squad as I ask it.

"That beacon you got at Eden Prime gave you visions, but they're unclear, right?" Shiala asks. Shepard nods grimly. Obviously the memory of it still isn't too happy for her…and to be honest I know the feeling. "They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean, understand everything about them. After the Protheans who inhabited here died, the Thorian consumed them, learned everything about them. That's the secret Saren was looking for. An ancestral memory spanning thousand of Prothean generations, that's what you would need to think like a Prothean, to understand. I detected that memory when I was within the Thorian."

"Whatever that Cipher is, I really need it," Shepard says urgently. "How can I get it?"

"Only one way," Shiala smiles grimly. "We'll need to meld minds. I can transfer my knowledge to you that way."

Shepard frowns deeply as Shiala suggests it, but steels her resolve and looks into the asari's eyes. "Alright. If that's the way."

"Try to relax, Commander," Shiala says, gently. "Let go of your physical shell." Shit, I'd much rather I got this talk when I got taken here instead of being press-ganged into it…same during that interrogation back on the Citadel! No point bitching about it now, though. "Reach out to grasp the threads that bind us, one to another." She takes quick strides up to Shepard, standing barely an inch away from her face. "We are all connected, every living being united in a single glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Commander." Her eyes roll back, it's about to happen… "Embrace eternity!"

It's almost bizarre, watching the meld without being directly involved myself. Shepard starts rocking back and forth on her heels slightly, grimacing and wincing as the vision passes through her mind, as I know it must be doing. It's only happened to me twice…but it's not one of the most enjoyable experiences in life, especially considering what I've been left with. Suddenly, a huge thought hits me.

Shiala said that the Cipher would help to understand Prothean visions…what if I asked her for it? She'd see where I'm from, the truth…but what if that's what I really need to understand all this? I can't do it with Shepard and the crew around…if Shiala lives, then as soon as she's alone we're talking. Damn the consequences, I'm finally finding out what's going on for me around here!

It only takes about twenty seconds, and suddenly Shepard and Shiala break apart, the Commander looking pretty dazed but still managing to stay standing. The first time is always weird, I can certainly vouch for that…

"I have given you all I can," Shiala says. "Just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are part of you, now."

"You alright, Shepard?" Garrus asks, ignoring everything Shiala just said. My patience is starting to run thin, now, as I practically will this conversation to end. I need to talk to that asari, I need to find out what's going on…the various possible consequences of what I'm going to do are running frantically through my mind, but I've already made my decision. Provided Shepard doesn't shoot her in the back of the head.

"I'm fine," Shepard says, sounding anything but. "I saw…something. But it still doesn't make much sense."

"You've been given a great gift. Your mind will take time to process this," Shiala explains.

Shepard's really taken quite a pale turn… "You don't look so peachy, Shepard," I say, and a few grimaces from the squad show I'm not the only one thinking that. "Maybe we should get you back to the ship." Leaving me time to talk to Shiala…

"I'm sorry for any suffering, but it was the only way," Shiala apologises. "In time, all will become clear." I had an asari tell me that as well, once…it's been over a year since then, and still nothing's happened. Bloody liars.

"So now that you're free…what are you going to do next?" Shepard asks, a little warily. Oh God, please don't shoot her, please don't shoot her…

"If you allow it, I plan to help the colonists recover from the destruction I've helped wreak," Shiala replies earnestly. "Making amends would help me greatly."

"They're going to need all the help they can get," Shepard says, still sounding pretty exhausted from the meld. I breathe a huge sigh of relief, which thankfully goes unnoticed. "That's more than fine by me."

"Thank you, Commander," Shiala nods. "May fortune smile upon you." Shepard smiles and opens her mouth to say something back…then collapses to the floor, smile still on her face. Shit, is she-

A dull snoring comes from the Commander as she lies with her back on the floor, staring up into the roof of the cave. Oh dear, melding definitely isn't good for her…

"That may have been a bit intense for the Commander," Shiala admits. "She'll be fine with some rest. Perhaps you should take her back to your ship."

"I think that would be best," Kaidan agrees, grabbing Shepard under her shoulders. "Everyone, give me a hand here."

"You guys take Shepard back, I'll show Shiala back to the colony," I say quickly. Kaidan gives me a curt nod, Garrus and Wrex helping him to lift the Commander as they dash back up the stairs towards Zhu's Hope. My heart's pounding as I turn to face the asari, who's giving me a weird look.

"It's fine, I can show myself around perfectly…" she beings, but I cut her off.

"Look, I don't know how long we've got," I say quietly, glancing around to make sure none of the crew are still about. "I need that Cipher you've got, right now."

Shiala's mouth opens with surprise at my request, then she folds her arms and her eyes narrow. "Who are you? A double agent from Saren?"

"No!" I say quickly. "No, of course not! My name's Ian, and, well…" I sigh deeply. "The Commander isn't the only one having visions."

"What?" the asari gasps. "How is that possible? The Eden Prime beacon was destroyed…"

"It's a long story, and I don't have time to explain it in words," I continue frantically. "Meld with me, see it yourself firsthand. And when you've seen, believe me, you'll realise why I need this Cipher."

She frowns. "It's not as simple as just melding with you. Human minds are fragile, a memory of that power could break someone!"

"Shiala!" I say desperately, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Please, this isn't a joke. This is my life."

The asari stares at the ground for a few seconds, and I'm horribly aware of time slipping away as she does. It's not going to take long for a crew member to come looking for me…

"Alright," the asari finally says, looking me in the eyes. "Have you melded before?"

"Yeah," I begin to say. "Why…"

"That should save us time, then," she says, eyes rolling back. Shit, I never get the easy approach, do I… "Embrace eternity!"

There's a flash, then a rush of images flit through my vision, as I feel Shiala's presence in my head, watching them as I do. At first, it's just memories of C-Sec, times on the Feros mission, and there's very little from her…then the images of my arrival appear, my life back in 2010…and her shock reverberates around my head as she takes the images in, gradually growing more and more amazed with each new thing she sees. Suddenly, the flow of images stops, and all I can see is a pure white background. It almost feels like I'm floating, all outside stimuli forgotten in the meld…

_I see, now, _Shiala's voice suddenly echoes through the space, catching me by surprise. _In all my life, I've never heard of this before…you hold a past and a knowledge someone like Saren would stop at nothing to know…_

_The Cipher, Shiala, I need it, _I reply, forcing the words out through my mind. It's surprisingly easy…all I have to is think the words, and they simply translate into words in this weird world we're inhabiting, inside the mind… _If I can understand, maybe I can do whatever it is I'm here to do._

_I see, now, _the asari repeats. _I will do what I can, then. Brace yourself! _I think about what I know is about to appear in my mind yet again, trying to prepare for the pain it's going to entail…

And yet is still doesn't work, as it feels like a thousand knives are being plunged deep inside my mind, the previous white space suddenly alight with fire. Everything continues to flash by as it has before, the Reapers, the screaming, DNA strands and the Collectors scurrying across some barren landscape, the fire being burned apart by some huge blast while the Reaper screams, deafening me and almost tearing my skull apart as I struggle to escape…and finally, Shepard's dead eyes looking into mine, the screech of triumph echoing apart, ripping through me with no mercy…

Reality rushes back, and I stagger back from the asari, clutching at my head as the sudden pain dies away back into a dull throb. Shit, nothing changed…

"What happened?" I ask, urgently. "Nothing changed! That's the same thing I've been seeing for two years!"

"I don't know!" Shiala replies, sounding utterly amazed. "The Cipher didn't work, your subconscious just rejected it…" She fixes me with a look, almost…fearful. "Who are you?"

"I wish I knew," I reply, bitter disappointment sinking into me. That accomplished nothing…the Cipher didn't work. Damn it, I'm still clueless! Fuck! "Shiala, nobody can know about this. Nobody."

"Of course," she replies quickly. "I can see why you kept this secret…that's just unbelievable. Why you, though? What did one of my people choose you to come here for?"

"She said I was some kind of chosen-" I begin, but a sudden shout from the stairway stops me immediately.

"Ian!" Garrus's voice yells, warily. "What's going on down there?" I can barely hear him, even though he's shouting…so I doubt he heard what we were talking about. Still, this conversation is over between Shiala and I.

"Shiala just needed to recover from the meld with Shepard for a minute, we're just coming back!" I shout to the turian, as his footsteps draw closer and closer down the stairs, until finally he turns the corner and comes face to face with us, smiling a little bit.

"I thought that plant thing had risen back up and got you, or something," he smiles. Looks like he didn't hear or suspect anything then…thank Christ. "Come on, we need you back at the ship. Joker's still convinced the colonists are going to turn on us at any moment."

"Alright," I say, forcing out a laugh despite my mood after the failed Cipher attempt. All I've accomplished is someone knowing my secret, someone who shouldn't…what the hell do I need to do to catch a break around here?

"You go, I still need a bit of time to…meditate on what's happened to me today," Shiara says quietly. Both Garrus and I nod…but I'm the only one who gets the true meaning as the turian and I turn back towards the stairs into the colony. Just as we head into the tunnel, I take one look back at Shiala, who's looking at me with worried eyes.

Then Garrus drags me by the arm up the stairs, and she's gone, leaving me with nothing but a feeling of confusion and worry as we head back to the Normandy.

**A/N: Long chapter is LONG!**

**Well, that happily concludes Feros. Or not happily, as the case may be, as Ian's still as clueless as before. Hope you all enjoyed the first mission as a whole…be sure to R&R!**

**So, next up, we've got Normandy chapters to deal with. Really looking forward to writing that after all the recent action. But alas, it'll have to wait. **

**I need to put this story on hiatus for around a week. I'm probably as pissed off about this as you are, but I've got exams to revise for and coursework that needs to be completed very, very soon. In a week, I should be fine to continue writing…but I need every minute I can get from now until then to focus on my real life education. So, I'm truly sorry about that. Still, a week is probably still quite a fast update in most people's opinion…**

**Thanks for reading, thanks to all of you for reviewing (and so consistently, as well! It's awesome!) and I'll see you next chapter!**

**BIG NEWS: Masses to Masses is on TVTropes! The link is on my author page on the website, since I can't link you to it here, annoyingly.**


	10. Ian vs The Console

Chapter 10

Anamanaguchi: Just Like In The Movies (from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game.)

**A/N: We're finally back! That's right, my school stuff is temporarily dealt with until the next round of exams…meaning I can write again! Wooo! Seriously, I'm sorry it took this long…but my exams went well, so the break for revising was at least worth it. A Normandy chapter isn't the most explosive thing to come back on, but oh well.**

**Yeah, after the craziness of Feros, we've got some Normandy stuff to deal with. It's gonna take more than one chapter. As far as I'm concerned, BioWare made an absolutely phenomenal cast, and just one chapter can't do their personalities and stuff justice. So if you like crew interactions, you're in luck…if you prefer the action style stuff, I promise it's coming, you just have to wait.**

**One last thing: story shout-outs. First off, you all need to go and read a fic called 'True Identity' by porcupinetheater. As soon as you've finished this chapter, do it. If you like Masses to Masses (and considering you're reading chapter 10 of the sequel I assume you do) you'll love it. Self-insert that runs parallel to the ME storyline as the protagonist gets recruited into the Alliance rather than Shepard's squad…if you like original stories, like self-inserts, trust me, you won't regret it.**

**And if you enjoy Fable III, and were gutted you couldn't romance Ben, a story called 'Melting the Ice' that I'm betaing over in that section should solve your woes. Written by Kassandra Black, I don't even play Fable III, and I enjoy reading it!**

**One final thing, Masses to Masses has a TVTropes page! The link is on my author page on this website. Do some Wild Mass Guessing, give it a read, whatever.**

**On with the chapter!**

"If you keep moving around, Ian, it's not going to make this any easier," Chakwas says sternly, eyes focused on working away at my broken nose from where the geth smacked me with an assault rifle. I screw up my face as a fresh wave of pain hits from where she's messing with the bone, but try to control my movements as much as possible for the doctor. "You've taken quite a knock there," she observes. I open my mouth to reply…just as she twist her wrist deftly and something in my nose cracks, turning the words I had planned into one sharp yell of pain.

"Knock doesn't quite cut it," I gasp, after the sting dies down. "They might not look like much, but geth can pack quite a hit."

"I'll bet they can," Chakwas replies, a little absent-mindedly, moving to inspect the burns on my chest from the creeper acid. They've left a big scar, it's just too bad it doesn't look cool like the one I got from being shot. Blotchy bits of skin, a few scabs where the acid sunk through deep…apparently chicks dig scars, but this is probably going over the line. "I imagine you'll want this scarring removed, right?"

"If it's alright," I reply, still a little shocked by the doctor's casual manner. Even Shepard confessed to feeling a little sick after she saw the burns when we all came down to the med-bay for the post-mission checkup, though to be honest it could have just been the side effects from melding with Shiala. God…my mind drifts back to Feros, the events just before I left. No Cipher, and now one person knows a secret that should have remained buried…

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," Chakwas says, grabbing a datapad and putting in a few details, knocking me off my train of thought. "I can have these removed…whenever you want, really. I need to get equipment prepared, but that's not going to take long. I should be ready in about two hours, and the operation should only take an hour or so, at the most."

I raise an eyebrow at her estimate. It's been over two years I've been here, yet the medical advances never cease to amaze me… "You don't seem to put off by my burns," I point out, unable to help the surprised tone creeping into my voice. "The consensus from the rest of the crew is it's pretty disgusting."

"Please, you're hardly a medical emergency," Chakwas laughs, storing the datapad away and motioning for me to put my t-shirt back on. "If you came in here missing a limb, I probably wouldn't have batted an eyelid. When you get to my age and you've been serving in the Alliance this long, you've pretty much seen it all."

"Really?" I ask, genuinely curious. I never really got to know Chakwas much during the game…plus she's the only other British person on this ship, so we've got something in common there. "Like what? What's the worst thing you've ever seen?"

"My seventh year in the Alliance, had to deal with a marine who got knocked into some lava on a mining world out near the Terminus systems," she replies immediately, obviously knowing my question was coming. "He wasn't there long, and the rest of his squad managed to pull him out so he lived. Full first-degree burns all over his body, at least half of his skin had been almost completely incinerated."

"Jesus Christ," I mutter, gagging a little bit as the image of what that would like forms in my mind…curse the fact I'm a visual learner! "What happened? Did you save him?"

Chakwas smiles proudly. "He made a full recovery. We had to replace a lot of skin, blood transfusions, surgery on affected blood vessels…but he made it through. You should see him now," she chuckles. "He's pretty good looking, if I say so myself." I laugh as well, and we both share the moment for a few seconds before it finally dies away, then her expression turns slightly more serious once again. "It's why they chose me for the Normandy. One of the reasons, anyway. Apparently I'm one of the best medics in the Alliance, plus Jeff needs someone to help him keep on top of his Vrolik's."

"Oh, I see," I say, trying my best to make it sound like this is news to me. "Well, if you can save a man from falling into lava, I'm sure I'm in safe hands for a little operation."

"Indeed," she smiles. "It's weird, you know, having another Brit on board. And here I was thinking the Alliance stopped hiring us after I signed up."

"Tell me about it," I grin. "All the mispronunciation and weird spelling around here. Makes me want to cringe every time I hear someone say toe-may-toe." Chakwas laughs properly when I say that, shifting her position slightly on the counter she's leaning on and letting me catch a glimpse of a bottle of something sticking out from behind some files. I wonder…

"Is that Serrice Ice Brandy?" I ask, pointing towards the bottle neck. Chakwas looks surprised, then reaches out and brings it out to inspect closer.

"Yes," she replies, sounding a little shocked it's there. "I'd almost forgotten I had this…actually, your file said you didn't drink. How'd you know what it was from the bottle neck?" Oh, shit! Think of something plausible!

"I don't drink, but if you spend enough time around people who do, you get to know an awful lot," I say back, after a second's hesitation. "Garrus must have tried pretty much every liquor in the galaxy the two years I've been partners with him."

"I can imagine," Chakwas nods, "turian livers can take much more alcohol than ours can, so they can do it with pretty much impunity. Still, I must have had this bottle for years, now…"

"Saving it for a special occasion?" I ask, knowing fine well what the answer's going to be.

"Yes," she smiles ruefully. "But I've been saving it for so long now…I can never seem to find the right time for it."

"Then let me make a suggestion," I smile. "Once all this is over, with Saren, you crack it open then. I'll come down here specially for it."

Chakwas grins back. "Now there's a thought. But…I thought you didn't drink." Ah, good point, but…

"I guess I can make an exception for a special occasion," I laugh. "It's more about the gesture of having a drink like that, something symbolic, rather than me just getting hammered. I'll still keep away from it normally, though."

"Of course," Chakwas chuckles. "And good on you for it. You'll live longer." Looks like I've made another friend on the Normandy…funny, you never really got to see this side of Chakwas in the games…and she's actually a really cool person!

"Well, I guess I'll see you in a few hours," I say, rising to my feet out of the chair I was sitting in for the examination and holding out my hand. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, doctor."

"Please, just Chakwas. It's been good to meet you too, Ian," she smiles. "And I'm holding you to that drink we've agreed. I've got the alcohol, you bring the glasses."

"Roger that," I say, giving her a mock salute and heading out of the med-bay door. "I'll see you in a few hours." She nods back, turning to her work and preparations as the med-bay door slides shut behind me. I make a mental note to remember the glasses as I head around the corner towards Kaidan, but my mind's so filled with other things I'll probably forget it. Feros is still fresh on my mind, as is Shiala…

#############

So, the Cipher didn't work, because my subconscious rejected it. Why the hell would it do that? Perhaps the vision isn't actually of Prothean origin, though from the looks of it I'm betting it somehow is…but even if it wasn't, that shouldn't mean my subconscious should totally reject the ancestral memories! I should have just absorbed them, even if it didn't change the actual vision, but Shiala specifically said I rejected it…it's ironic that I asked for her help to find answers, but all I've ended up with is more questions. Too bad I'm really not in the mood to find it funny at the moment.

Plus someone knows my origins now…someone I can't keep an eye on. Sure, Shiala makes it into Mass Effect 2 safe and sound if canon gets followed…but considering I'm here, what else in canon can change? What if she lets it slip to someone, or worse, what if Saren sends agents back to investigate what happened on Feros?

Oh, for fuck's sake Ian, calm down. Nothing bad is going to happen…and besides, there's no point worrying about Shiala now anyway. She's gone, a factor out of my control, so it's not like me stressing out over it is going to help anyway…no, I just have to get my head straight, and stay focused on working what the hell is going on with me. Maybe talking to Kaidan can help me relax a bit…Shepard's lounging around on a chair behind him, with what looks like some kind of advanced remote control for the screen mounted on the wall. I wonder what she's doing…but it can wait until I'm done talking to the Lieutenant.

"Alright, Kaidan?" I say, on approach. The man himself turns around to look at me, small smile on his face.

"Not too bad, kid," he replies. "Finishing up my part of the report on the Feros mission, but nothing that can't wait a little while. I'm almost done, anyway."

"You have to do a report?" He nods, smiling at my ignorance. "Christ, I'm glad I'm not Alliance. I hate writing that kind of thing."

"Didn't you do a lot of that during your time at C-Sec?" he asks.

I nod vigorously. "God, yeah, loads, but that doesn't mean I had to enjoy it. Garrus and I hated the stuff, it's part of the reason we joined up with Shepard. We could investigate Saren with C-Sec, but the amount of red tape we had to cut through meant we were never going to get anywhere with that. Now, I've got you to do it for me," I smile, and Kaidan chuckles.

"Is that so?" the Lieutenant replies. "Well, for that clever little comment, someone's write up is getting changed in the report…"

"Hold up, you're writing on me in there?" He nods, grinning now he knows he's holding the cards. "I take it all back, Kaidan, I have nothing put appreciation for the fantastic work you put in."

"Alright," he says, in a mock-thoughtful tone. "I'll let it slide this time. Seriously though, I've written some good things about you, kid. You handled yourself more than capably, kept going even when you got injured, stayed calm and helped Shepard deal with that Jeong situation extremely well…" he nods, pretty much to himself. "It's very good indeed."

Cool, I got a good write-up! It's almost like getting some kind of school report or something, except I actually care a ton more about this… "Cheers, Kaidan," I smile. "You don't have to make it out like I'm good though, just to please the Alliance."

"What? No, I'm serious, kid. You were damn impressive. Seriously, have you ever considered signing up for the Alliance? We could do with more people like you."

"Nah," I laugh. "I can't see myself doing this all the time. Once Saren is dealt with, well…I dunno, I'll probably end up going back to the Citadel. Depends on what Garrus is doing, more or less."

"You two are close, then?" Kaidan asks. "I've been wondering, actually…what is it between you two? Most turians and humans won't even talk to each other." Hmm, I could always give him a straight answer here…or I could mess with him for fun. Yeah, latter option sounds better. I'm considering it payback for all the times he's called me kid.

"It's a sexual thing," I say immediately, without batting an eyelid. Kaidan's eyes grow _extremely _wide when I say that, almost taking a step back. Heh, if I said that to Ash, she'd probably have fainted…Kaidan's expression almost makes me laugh, but I keep my face stony and impassive.

"Erm…" he finally coughs. "Shit, really?" I just nod back, not trusting myself to open my mouth in case I burst into laughter. Kaidan's jaw is practically on the floor now… "Wow, I had…no idea. I mean, you seemed close, but I didn't think that close…" He actually looks like he's about to faint or something…time to put him out of his misery.

"Nah, I'm just fucking with you, Kaidan," I say. The outrage on his face is what sets me off laughing, and even Kaidan sees the funny side after a while.

"Why'd you do that?" he finally asks. "How is that even funny?"

"Just wanted to gauge your reaction," I chuckle. "Seriously, your face was priceless."

He frowns mockingly, folding his arms. "I'm sure it was. You ready to give me a serious answer now?"

"Yeah, alright. Well, we've been partners at C-Sec for two years, so we were always going to be friends because of that…but we were still good friends out of the office as well. Hell, I lived with him for quite a while! Plus he's saved my life more times than I care to mention, and vice versa."

Kaidan nods understandingly. "It's good that you two know each other well. The more team members get to know each other, the more trust we have, and the better we work."

"Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with being friends without work motivation coming into it," I point out. "Sure, it helps in action, but it's not always about the job."

"True, true," he agrees. "I didn't mean it like that. It's still been great getting to know you, but you can't deny it helps in battle as well."

"Friends forged in the fire of battle, then," I say. "To put it in the most epic way possible, anyway." Kaidan smiles and nods. Actually, on second thoughts, that doesn't make too much sense…but Kaidan seems happy with it, so I'll let it go. "Actually, speaking of getting to know each other a bit better, you said back on Feros you had some story about a close encounter with varren?"

Kaidan looks surprised at my question, breaking eye contact as he thinks back to the mission. "Shit…I did, didn't I?" I nod, smiling a bit. "When I said the report could wait a little while, I didn't mean that long."

"Long story?"

"You could say that…" he smiles. "Ian, I swear, after the next mission I'll tell you." Well, looks like this conversation is coming to an end…and I've still got about an hour and fifty minutes until the operation. Fuck!

"I'm not forgetting, Kaidan," I say, starting to head away and pointing a finger at him jokingly. "You'd better."

"I'll see you later, kid," he chuckles. I turn around to look over at Shepard…and the scene that greets my eyes is horrifying. A horde of about twenty zombies charging towards the armoured woman, the person in the question blasting away at them with a handgun, kicking a zombie away while another comes up behind, arms outstretched…

"Holy shit, Shepard!" I shout. The zombie gets elbowed in the head, and Shepard turns around to look at me, slight worry in her eyes. "You got us a games console!"

The pause menu pops up onto the widescreen, and Shepard gives me a grin. "I should have known the youngest person on the squad would appreciate it," she laughs. "I got the best, as well. Treysonic 4, just came out last year. Got Galactic Terror Six as well."

"Galactic Terror Six? That's a…really shit name."

"I know," she frowns apologetically, "but it's a damn good game. Long story short, Citadel gets overrun with a zombie infection, and it's up to one turian C-Sec officer and an Alliance marine to try and escape the station."

"So it's not big on plot, either," I observe. "Got to say, Shepard, you aren't selling this very well. What, is it two player?"

"Yeah, of course," she smiles, picking up a second controller and lobbing it over towards me. "Think fast!"

I manage a fumbling two handed catch, but manage to keep a hold of the controller and inspect the interface. Seems awfully similar to the xbox, with the analogue sticks in alternating positions, twin shoulder triggers, four main buttons coloured red, green, blue and yellow…the main difference is that the letters on the coloured buttons are in some weird alien language I don't quite understand…looks like salarian, if I had to guess. Shepard unpauses the game and continues playing, giving me pointers as she does.

"You see, if you shoot them in the head or limbs, you can set them up for a melee attack," she points out, reinforcing the statement by shooting a salarian zombie in the head, running up to him and launching a two footed kick straight into his head, taking it clean off with suitable splattering of blood and gore. "You've got to stand still while you're aiming, use the laser sight, you can access your inventory with the yellow button…" she gasps as a zombie grabs her character from behind, and she starts frantically mashing a button to shake it off. "That's pretty much all you need to know. Just press the button in the centre of the controller to join."

I do so, and the screen splits in half as I take control of a turian in C-Sec armour, standing about ten metres from the Alliance woman Shepard's fighting with. I'm getting a massive Resident Evil vibe from the game…and the controls seem to be pretty similar as well. Alright, here we go…a regular human zombie comes lumbering towards me, but I've got plenty of time to bring the pistol up and shoot it in the arm, making it stagger. It's been a while since I played a games console, never mind Resident Evil 5…but it's one of those things you just don't forget how to do. My turian right hooks the injured zombie, sending it staggering into a crowd of its friends and causing them all to scatter like ninepins.

"Not bad," Shepard notes, as I start making my way towards her character. "You played this before?"

"You could say that," I reply, switching to some shotgun looking weapon and blowing the group of zombies surrounding Shepard away. I can vaguely make out a turian head flying through the air after the blast, small blood trail following it…graphically, this isn't actually that much better than the xbox or PS3…then again, that's not too surprising. People would probably be a bit uncomfortable if the zombies actually looked like real people, including myself.

"I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" Shepard asks, casually shooting indiscriminately into a crowd of the flesh-eaters. "I can do this solo if you need to be somewhere else."

"No, no, this is perfect," I reply quickly. "Chakwas has me in surgery in like an hour and a bit, get rid of my burn scars. This is exactly what I needed, to be honest. Actually, why'd you get a games console?"

"For fun, obviously," she says, glancing at me like I'm stupid. Mind you, after asking a question like that it's probably a fair assumption… "I've always enjoyed gaming, and I figured it would give the crew something to do in our downtime. I even got the controllers for other species," she points towards the other, different shaped ones lying on the table in front of me. Of course, considering species like turians and quarians don't actually have five fingers to use they were always going to need something different…

"Good call," I reply. "Tali and Garrus would probably enjoy this, if you've got any four player games." I can already see Garrus and I getting crazy competitive over this…if I can't beat him kill-wise in real life, I'll be damned if I can't do it in video games!

"I've got one, Systems Warfare. First person shooter, the main campaign is told from two perspectives, an Alliance marine and a turian soldier. It was controversial, but it's one of the best games out there. Plus the online is awesome." Shepard explains eagerly. "That said, I'd like to finish this chapter before we get the rest of the crew."

"Okay," I nod, smiling. "You've only got me for just over an hour, though, so we might want to get this done quick."

"Not a problem, if you can keep up," Shepard grins back. Well, she's certainly cocky…I focus my attention on the screen, adjust my grip on the controller slightly, and start firing again.

#############

"Shepard, I need the first aid!"

"I can't right now, I've got about ten of them on me…oh shit, krogan charging!" The dodge prompt pops up on my screen, and I barely hit it in time to send the turian rolling out of its way. Shepard's character rushes up to me and uses a healing item, causing my character to stop clutching at the various wounds he's picked up. Got to say, this is a shitload harder than Resident Evil 5…the krogan whirls around for another shot, but Shepard whips out the rocket launcher we've been saving for an occasion just like this…

"Having fun?" a flanging voice asks from behind us, making me jump almost out of my seat in surprise. Shepard's hands jolt as well, causing the rocket to fly past the krogan and explode harmlessly against a wall.

"For fuck's sake, Garrus!" Shepard yells, though her smile suggests she isn't really pissed off, instead rather amused.

"What have I told you about sneaking up on me, bro?" I add, taking a second to quickly glance at the grinning turian before turning my attention back to the game.

"That you're paranoid, jumpy and you don't like it, which is exactly why I do it," he retorts. "This looks…interesting." As he talks, I kneecap a zombie, run up behind it, and execute a melee attack where the turian simply drives one talon through the zombie's head, getting a wince from Shepard.

"Hey, Garrus, can turians actually do that?" I ask. Part of me really hopes they can, just for the pure badassness…

"Not sure," he says, flexing a talon. "Want to test it out?" Damn, he's got a comeback for everything today…

"You know what, I think I'll pass on that," I reply sardonically. "What are you doing up here, anyway? Searching for something to do now you've got no Mako to calibrate, or just being a prick for the fun of it?"

"Bringing the Mako into it, that's a low blow, Ian," he says, feigning hurt. "I spent ages doing the calibrations, and it didn't even last a mission. I'm still pretty torn up about it, if you must know."

"Oh, that reminds me," Shepard suddenly pauses the game and turns around to look at Garrus. "We're on course for the Citadel at the moment, the Alliance is providing us with another Mako." I swear Garrus's eyes light up a little bit when she says that…goddamn, it's like he gets withdrawal symptoms from not doing calibrations or something! Although, I could actually do with getting my armour fixed and customised, so I suppose the Citadel is as good a place as any…

"Any chance of a bit of shore leave once we're there?" I ask. "I've got a few armour repairs to get done, amongst other things."

Shepard nods happily. "Sure. I imagine we could all use a day to relax after Feros, plus knowing C-Sec customs it'll take at least a day for the Mako to get put onto the ship."

"You know, we could probably pull a few strings to speed it up," Garrus points out. "Ian and I still know a few people at C-Sec –"

"No thanks, Garrus," Shepard cuts him off. "I could probably get past them with my Spectre status anyway, but generally the rules are there for a reason. Besides, if we're on shore leave anyway there's no point in me speeding it up, plus I'm not going to start flaunting Spectrehood for the sake of it." She might be a badass, but at the core Shepard's still a real paragon, isn't she…I take an absent-minded glance at my watch, then do a double take when I realise what time it actually is. Fuck, I was supposed to be back in the med-clinic half an hour ago! I always lose track of time when I'm playing games…

"Shit, sorry guys, I've got an operation to get to," I say hurriedly, leaping out of my chair and only pausing to drop out of the game. "We should do this again some other time though, Shepard."

"Of course," she grins. "Looking forward to it. If you're going, fancy a game, Garrus?"

"Sure," the turian says casually, grabbing one of the different shaped controllers and sitting next to Shepard. "I'll see you later, Ian,"

"Yeah, in a bit," I say, backing off towards the med-clinic as Shepard restarts the game and both turian and human turn their attention towards the screen. Garrus says something to Shepard I don't quite catch, then Shepard lightly punches him on the arm when he shoots her in the back with the shotgun. I stand still for a second, watching them, unable to help myself. There's something there for them, a little spark…they're definitely firm friends, but anything further? I don't know, yet, but I still feel a little pang as they both share a laugh. I'm used to it just being Garrus and I, and now that he's hanging around with Shepard more and more I'm feeling…well, worried about losing him, I guess. Before, it used to be just him and me, but now he's spending more and more time with Shepard…what if he really is in love with her, and they get together? What's going to happen to our friendship?

'_Don't be a hypocrite, Ian, did you and Garrus grow apart when you were seeing Rebecca?' _I think to myself. That's a good point, actually…even when I had a girlfriend, we still stuck together. Garrus gave her and I room then, but we still stayed best friends…this is probably how he felt when Rebecca and I started dating, and he didn't say a word about it to me. I should show him the same courtesy.

Shit…thinking of Rebecca reminds me, I need to see Garrus about those transponder codes to Saleon's ship…

"There you are!" Chakwas's voice snaps me out of my trance. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to!"

"Sorry, doc, I totally lost track of time with Shepard and Garrus…"

"Don't apologise, it's fine," she reassures me. "I hardly expected you to rush to the appointment over having a bit of fun, anyway. You're alright with anaesthetic, by the way? I'm going to have to knock you out for the operation."

"Yeah, of course," I nod. "Shall we, then? I'd quite like to be conscious by the time we reach the Citadel."

"Don't worry about that," she laughs. "We're still a good few hours away, and you'll only be out for about one of them, up and moving half an hour afterwards. Plenty of time for you." I nod, satisfied. I'd quite like to go and see the rest of the crew before we get off the ship, plus I promised myself I'd hit the gym after how tired the Feros mission left me…still, an anaesthetic induced power nap right now would really hit the spot. "Just follow me, please," Chakwas smiles, walking into the med-bay as I follow behind. "Lie down on the operating table, make yourself comfortable." I hop on, shuffling around a bit to make sure I'm in a nice position. It's kind of irrelevant if I'm comfortable or not, actually, considering I'm going to be unconscious either way…still, it's a matter of principle. Chakwas reaches over next to the table, grabbing a mask attached to a gas tank and moving it close to my face.

Oh shit, I hope the vision doesn't flare up while I'm unconscious…before I can do anything, the mask is on, and I feel the faint taste of the anaesthetic tickle the back of my throat. Shit, I guess I'll just have to pray it doesn't happen…God, I'm knackered. This room seems so dark…I wonder what Pallin's doing right now…maybe I should see what Tali's up to after…after…

My eyes grow heavy and slide shut of their own accord, and the last image in my mind when I go under is of Rebecca on the rooftop I took her to on the Citadel, laughing at some joke I don't remember…

Then nothing but blackness, as my sense slip away.

**A/N: Well, hopefully that did the cast I talked to as much justice as I hoped…next up, after the operation, we've got Wrex, Tali (all the male readers leap out of their seats with joy), and of course, Ash, though the way Ian and Ash talk is going to be rather unorthodox…there's a little action scene lined up for next chapter for those suffering withdrawal symptoms from stuff being punched, shot and/or blown up, so look forward to that! **

**Remember to go and read those fics I mentioned, by the way, to fill in the gap between now and the next update. You know you want to.**

**And we're almost at the 200 reviews mark, already! (Head explodes from sheer awesomeness.) Big, big, big thank you to reviewers both past, present and hopefully future. I know I say that pretty much every chapter, but I mean it. Words fail to do justice to my happiness.**

**Alright, see you next chapter!**


	11. Ian vs The Anaesthetic

Chapter 11

OK Go: Get Over It

Sparring Match Music – Anamanaguchi: Subboss Theme

**A/N: This is possibly the most random A/N you will ever read in this fic. Basically, a friend of mine edited the Wild Mass Guessing of the TVTropes page and included an idea, which I imagine some of you will have seen. Said friend and I now have a bet going, where if he gets 300 pen yes responses on the poll on my author page for the idea, I will put in his crazy idea in one scene as a joke. I'm not gonna spoil what the idea is…just check my author page and the WMG page. **

**After that little bit of randomness…chapter go!**

Slowly, I begin to open my eyes, screwing them tightly shut again after the light blitzes my senses. Ah, shit, that stings…I always forget how anaesthetic makes me feel after surgery. As my body functions gradually get up and running to conscious levels again, I'm quickly hit by a pulsing headache, a throbbing pain from my chest where the surgery occurred…and all this before my eyesight's sorted itself out. Fuck, the only way this could be worse is if I'd had a vision or something…

"Ah, good, you're awake," Chakwas's voice comes from somewhere across the room, sounding a little muffled from the anaesthetic induced haze. I open my eyes, even more cautiously this time, and vaguely make out the doctor's blurry outline opposite me. Man, this is probably what Kaidan feels like when he gets a migraine…as if my brain's being repeatedly hit by Saren fangirls with baseball bats for trying to stop him. "How are you feeling?"

"Faaantastic," I groan sarcastically, trying my best Frank West impression. "Remind me not to get any more scars, I don't want to wake up like this again, ever."

"Duly noted," she chuckles, and as my vision starts to clear I see a faint smile on her face. "The operation went without a hitch, you'll be pleased to hear. Got rid of the burns, but kept the gunshot one there like you asked. The anaesthetic should wear off fully in about half an hour, I'll let you of here then."

"Thanks, Chakwas," I say, shaking my head slightly to clear my vision, which only results in worsening my headache. "Damn, I feel _terrible._"

"I thought you were supposed to some tough soldier or super-cop," Chakwas teases. "All it takes is mild side effects from anaesthetic, a little headache, and you're whining like a child."

I sigh and sink back into the bed Chakwas has me lying on. "Thanks for the sympathy." Chakwas exhales, sharply and derisively. "I'm sort of the sensitive tough guy," I try explaining. "Real men admit when they're in pain."

"Uh-huh," she smirks, clearly not convinced. There's a surprise. "Well, take a look at your chest, see if the horrific pain you're in is worth it." I roll my eyes at her, then glance down to the burn scars…or specific lack of them. The area's still throbbing away from the operation, but there's no signs of the previous injuries, instead just perfect, unblemished skin. Even the little cuts and stuff I've picked up are gone. I can't help a smile starting to form on the edges of my mouth. That's fucking amazing…

"Pretty good job, I'd say," Chakwas comments, picking up on my smile.

"Sympathetic _and _modest," I chuckle. "What a combination."

"Pain threshold of a child _and _sarcastic," she retorts, smirking. "You've got quite the personality yourself." Ouch.

"I suppose I deserved that," I reply, scratching the back of my head. Chakwas nods, laughing. "If I wasn't all drugged up like this, I'd come up with some scathing comeback, but my brain's barely holding together as it is."

"Of course, of course," the doctor chuckles, turning her back on me and fiddling with some equipment. My vision's pretty much back to normal now, as is my hearing, although the headache's still pounding away, as is the throbbing in my chest. Nothing some R&R and ice cream won't fix, though…

"If you're going to be in here for half an hour, do you want me to grab someone for you to talk to?" Chakwas suddenly asks.

"I'm that boring?" I reply, feigning hurt. "I've been conscious, what, less than five minutes, and you're already sick of me?"

"I have some crew medical files to sort out, and the surgery equipment to deal with," she explains, smiling. "Some part of me thought you might not want to sit on your own for thirty minutes staring at wall, or something."

"Oh, right," I say, feeling incredibly stupid for not working that out in the first place. "Erm…in that case, can you see if Garrus is free for me?"

She nods. "Of course. I'll page his omni-tool." She pops hers open, presses a single button, then closes it again. "Sorry, Ian, but I really need to try and get this all done before we reach the Citadel. I'd quite like some shore leave myself, truth be told."

"Fair enough," I nod, giving her a reassuring smile to show I don't mind. Which is true, I can understand wanting to work without having to babysit someone… "Thanks for everything, Chakwas."

"Just doing my job, Ian," she replies happily. "Hopefully I won't be seeing too much of you in here again."

It takes my drug-riddled mind a few seconds to process her words, but it still raises a laugh once I finally get it. God, I'm really not on form when I wake up… "I'll try my best, Chakwas. But if I ever fall in some lava, I'll know who to come running to."

"I'll see you later, Ian," she laughs, heading around the corner and through into her proper office. I sigh deeply, settling back in the bed and getting comfortable on the pillows. I really hate sitting around with nothing to do. Normally, I never usually have a reason to sit around, doing fuck all…at C-Sec there was usually some form to fill out, emergency to attend, then back at the flat with Garrus there was always TV, or the shooting range if we got really bored, I could always go to the gym, chat with someone, go out with Rebecca…

For fuck's sake, I'm angsting again! I try to force the train of thought out of my mind, but it just stays there, nagging away at me. Whether I like it or not, the mission to the MSV Fedele is growing closer and closer…as is finding Rebecca. Garrus and I have always been outwardly optimistic that she's still alive…but inside, I'm having my doubts, and I know Garrus is, despite his best efforts to hide it from me. In Mass Effect 1, everyone on Saleon's ship has been transformed into a husk. Everyone. Why the hell should Rebecca be the exception?

No, I'm not doing this. If I get pessimistic, Saleon's won. She's still out there, and I'm finding her. End of story. All I need now is the transponder codes to bear some fruit…there's a sudden whoosh as the door into the med-bay opens, and Garrus steps through, trademark awkward grin firmly on his face when he sees me in the bed. Well, thank God he's here to take my mind off wherever my thoughts were going…though the ship codes are still in mind as he heads towards me.

"You're looking good, considering what it was like last time I saw you in a hospital bed," he jokes, grabbing a chair and pulling it up next to me. "You didn't die during surgery this time, did you?"

"Very sensitively put, Garrus," I mutter, lightly punching him on the arm, but I can't help smiling at his words. "The galaxy didn't end in my temporary absence, did it?"

"As if," he replies. "Though it was nice, for a few hours I could speak freely without someone trying cheap comebacks every time I opened my mouth."

"Oh, shut up," I laugh. "You're just as bad, and don't even pretend you don't deserve it most of the time."

"Seriously, though," he says, once he's done laughing. "Chakwas looks like she's done a good job."

I nod. "Her words exactly," I explain. "Can't say she's lying, though. Twenty minutes or so, and I'm up and about again."

"Impressive," he muses. "So, I guess you wanted me up here for the company, then?"

"Pretty much," I say. My mind jumps back to him playing with Shepard on Galactic Terror Six…I wonder. "How you getting along with the squad?"

He looks thoughtful for a second, nodding his head slightly as he thinks how to answer the question. "Not bad. Kaidan's friendly enough, even if he gave me a bit of a weird look on the way here for some reason." I barely stop myself from laughing when he says that…oh, poor Kaidan. "And I was talking to the quarian, Tali, in engineering." Garrus continues. "Nice person, but I don't think she liked it when I started winding her up about quarian immune systems." Ah, the subject of countless in-game elevator conversation…good to see they're getting along, though, in the sort of 'bickering siblings' relationship they had in Mass Effect 1 and 2. "Ash is alright, but she doesn't seem to interested in talking, and Wrex is his usual self. Probably wouldn't even give me the time of day, if I asked."

"Just give him time, he'll probably come around," I reassure Garrus, though I'm not quite sure I believe myself…but that's not the point, I was trying to get him to talk about Shepard! Christ, how much do I have to hint at it…

"How'd you find our first mission, then?" Garrus asks, before I can push my point forward. Damn it! Though I've still got about twenty odd minutes, so it's not like it's really that urgent…'a matter of dire urgitude', as Fizwideget from Ratchet and Clank 2 would have said. God, the anaesthetic is throwing up some weird memories…

"Apart from having part of my chest burned away, having my nose broken by a geth, getting clawed at by an enormous varren and almost falling off the skyway?" Garrus nods enthusiastically. "It was great. We should totally do it again some time." The turian simply folds his arms, and leans back in his chair, the movement he usually gives when he's not impressed by whatever attempt at humour I've had a go at. "Honestly? It was good. We saved the colony, we're one step closer to finding Saren, I got to blow up a few geth…it actually feels like we're making a big difference with Shepard."

"More than we did at C-Sec, that's for sure," Garrus grins his agreement. Actually, I can't quite say I totally agree with that…

"I don't know, Garrus, we did a lot at C-Sec," I point out. "Remember that Ricardo Fernandez guy? If we hadn't stopped him, thousands of people on the Citadel would have died. Caltan Xenvalis, too, we stopped a serial killer then."

"I know, but now we're doing something that affects the entire galaxy, not just the Citadel," he says. "Now we've got no rules to get in the way as well, I'd say this beats C-Sec."

"Yeah, but rules aren't always bad," I frown. I hate it when he gets like this… "Maybe if Spectres had some regulations to follow, maybe we wouldn't be in this position with Saren. It gets me worried when you talk like this, mate."

"Relax, Ian, don't take it so literally," he says calmly. "I'm just excited to be here, that's all."

I nod, slowly. I know, in his heart, he probably isn't quite as extreme about this as he's making it sound…still worries me, though. "Alright. I think I know what you mean, anyway." We sit in silence for a few seconds, contemplating the conversation. Actually, this wouldn't be a bad time to bring up the subject of Shepard…

"What do you think of the Commander, then?" I ask quickly, once again trying to read Garrus's reaction. And once again, his plated face and mandibles give very little away. However, I catch a little twitch when I mention Shepard, a tiny movement anyone else might have missed…but I know Garrus, and that little twitch in his mandibles means I've hit some kind of nerve. It ain't conclusive, but it's hardly contusive to saying there's nothing there, either.

"She's great," he smiles. "Really nice, when you were in surgery we were playing that game pretty much the whole time, she was telling me about all the stuff she's got up to before all this…" He catches my raised eyebrow, and moves quickly to cover himself. "Fearless leader as well, amazing in battle. If anyone's going to beat Saren, it's her." I consider pushing him on the 'personality' details he was going on about…but stop myself. I resolved not to play matchmaker unless one of them explicitly mentions it to me…and I'm not breaking a promise I made to myself. Garrus suddenly launches off into a rant about the dextro-amino 'crap' he's getting for food on the ship…so I settle back into my pillow, adjust my position slightly, and listen away to my best friend's conversation, actually relaxed for the first time in a long while.

################

"So, I think it's my visor not working, but then it really turns out Wrex is winning with twenty one kills," Garrus moans, right eye looking at said visor's display. "You're way back on fifteen, mind, but still, I can't believe the krogan's winning!"

"You'll get over it," I sigh. "At least you're not last, unlike yours truly."

"You can close a gap of six," Garrus replies, encouragingly. "One well placed grenade and you're back in the game!" Just as he says that, there's a beeping from the watch on my wrist, and Chakwas comes around the corner at the noise.

"There we are, you should be good to go now," she says, then looks at the turian sitting next to me and smiles. "Hello, Garrus."

"Chakwas," he smiles back, looking a bit…shy? "How are you doing?"

"Quite good," she replies. I'm picking up something here, feels oddly like a private joke…before I can mention anything, though, the doctor turns her attention back to me.

"Just try to get up, Ian, nice and slow, just in case it hasn't quite worn off yet." Frankly, my head and vision feel absolutely fine now, as does my chest…but I'm still careful hopping out of the bed. Fortunately, my legs are solid as rock when I touch down. Good thing, too, I'm beginning to get a little sick of the med-bay…

"I think we're all good," I inform Chakwas, who nods.

"Alright," she smiles. "Hopefully we won't be doing that again. I'll see you later, Ian. You too, Garrus." The turian smirks as we both head out of the door…alright, what the hell is going on? I HATE private jokes I'm not in on! As soon as the med-bay door slides shut, I look at Garrus, raising my eyebrows.

"What was _that _all about?" I ask, innocently, as we head to the elevator leading down to the garage and step inside.

"What was what about?" he replies innocently, but it's blatantly obvious he's lying.

"You know damn well," I say, lightly poking him in the chest. "You and Chakwas. There was some joke going on there, I know it!"

He looks torn between denying it again or spilling the beans, before finally relenting. "She did my full health examination earlier on. Just the normal physical stuff, so on, but then she asked about…" he coughs, lightly. "Well, you know." I raise an eyebrow. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" he asks. Ohhhhh!

"Ah, right," I chuckle. "So what, though? Asking about how often you have sex isn't exactly out of the ordinary in a full scale check-up like the ship needs, is it?" He literally cringes when I say that, but continues anyway. (**A/N: I have no idea if this is actual normal practice. Just go with it.)**

"That's just it. It's normal practice, but I ended up misinterpreting it and being _wayyy _too specific. There was this one time when I was in the turian military, I got in this sparring match with a scout…" He stops himself midsentence, looking incredibly embarrassed. Aw, bless him. "Let's not go into the details, because that's pretty much what I did talking with her." I try to keep serious for a few seconds…and fail completely, instead bursting into laughter. Garrus frowns as we descend, but can't help chuckling after a few seconds, before we both descend into full-blown laughter.

"Are you serious?" I finally manage to gasp. It took him about two or three years to share it with Shepard in the game…and he just tells it to Chakwas? Holy shit, social awkwardness ahoy… "Christ, no wonder it was so awkward in there…"

"Don't tell anyone, Ian," he pleads, as the elevator doors finally open up into the garage. "I'd like to think I've got some kind of reputation to uphold around here."

"Of course," I reassure him. "Your secret's safe with me. I've got something I need to ask you before we get to the garage, though."

"No, the codes haven't come up with anything yet," he responds immediately, mandibles drooping apologetically. "You're just going to have to wait it out, Ian. Something's going to show up soon."

"I know, I know," I nod firmly, just as the elevator door opens, and I spot Wrex standing over by his crates…may as well mess with Garrus's head as I leave. "Alright, Wrex!" I shout over to the krogan. "You'll never guess the news I just got!"

I hear Garrus groaning something in turian behind me as I jog over towards the bemused battlemaster.

#############

"What's the news, Ian?" Wrex asks, though is his tone contains so little interest it's barely a question.

"Oh, you're just winning the kill competition, that's all," I say quickly, giving Garrus a wink as he walks back to his corner. The turian just flicks me off subtly as he walks by.

"That's it? No, it's something else, something about the turian. Did he admit to loving Shepard?" Wrex asks, obviously not convinced by my statement.

"What? No!" I reply, frowning a bit. "You're really winning, twenty one kills. What's with the thinking about Garrus and Shepard anyway?"

"When you've been around as long as I have, you can tell these things," Wrex says, quietly, to avoid drawing Garrus's attention. "They might not like to admit it, but there's something there. I can see it."

"That's…really creepy," I point out. "Do you have to be so blunt about it?"

"Call it what you want, it's true," Wrex grunts. "And on Tuchanka, if you're not straight up with someone, you get killed. My father should have known that." He glares at the floor for a few seconds, obviously thinking back to his childhood for a few seconds. Of course, he killed his own father, didn't he…though circumstances did kind of force his hand. Life or death situations tend to have that effect. Before I can push it though, he looks up at me again. "From the sounds of things, that's not why you came down here to talk, though. Something on your mind?"

"Not particularly. Just wondering if our first mission helped get rid of that 'weak' idea you have of me," I grin. Wrex grunts out a laugh, smiling to himself a little bit.

"A bit," he finally admits. Hell YEAH, son! "You stayed calm, kept fighting even when you got injured, and killing an alpha varren is impressive work, even with the turian helping you. Might not be up to krogan standards yet…but you've got something, I guess."

"Ah, I knew you'd warm to me eventually," I smile, punching him on the arm. The look he gives me when I do that reminds me of John Casey when someone tries doing that to him…

"There's a big difference between respecting someone as a warrior and being friends, Ian," he scowls. "We can talk, but don't ruin what you've managed to build up here."

"Of course," I reply quickly, taking a step back to give the krogan his full personal space. I've got to remember the friendly approach doesn't really work with krogan… "Just glad we got the weak thing out of the way, that's all." Wrex just growls softly in response, but keeps his eyes on me, signalling the conversation isn't done quite yet.

"I'm sure it'll come back up sometime," he says, a little mockingly, then switches the subject. "So, what do you think of it?"

The question catches me a bit off guard. "Erm…it?" I ask, confused. "Can you be any less specific?"

"All this," he says, sweeping a huge arm around the room for emphasis. "The Normandy, the mission, Saren. Are you confident?"

"Of what, success?" He nods, looking a little exasperated. "Well…we've got the best ship in the Alliance, that's for sure. The squad's small, but we're good, and if anyone's going to win this for us it's Shepard. Why? Something on your mind about it?"

"Not exactly," he says, sounding thoughtful. "Saren tried to employ me once, though, quite recently." I raise an eyebrow. I vaguely remember him mentioning something like this in Mass Effect 1…but I don't really know the details. I'm really regretting only playing through it once, now I'm actually living through its events… "I refused the job. I was never going to work for a turian, but my instincts told me there was something about him, something I couldn't trust. Turns out I was right. A week later, every mercenary under his employ was dead." Wrex shakes his head, a little sadly. "He doesn't know compassion, he's got no honour, and that makes for a difficult opponent. Plus his ship can apparently control minds, if that asari was telling the truth."

"Come on, Wrex, don't be a pessimist," I respond, actually a little surprised by his words. "He's heartless, but there's where we've got the advantage. The moral high ground, if you will."

"Moral high ground won't do you much good when you're dead," Wrex points out. Ah, touché…

"Well, you think what you want," I reply, my tone taking a bit of an annoyed turn before I can stop myself. "But you're supposed to be the big, fearless warrior, so you're the kind of person I'd expect to know the worst way to go into battle is thinking you've already lost."

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid, Ian," Wrex says, voice staying levelling but taking a dangerous turn. "I don't start fights I'm not going to win, but whatever naïve idea you have of just shooting around the galaxy and stopping Saren without a care in the world is idiotic. This is real warfare, not C-Sec. None of us are going to come out of this unscathed, if you ask me. We might even lose people. I'm not a pessimist, but I'm not going to delude myself either."

The krogan's words stun me into silence for a few seconds. _We're going to lose people_…my mind's drawn to Virmire. _We're going to lose people_… Ash or Kaidan…I hadn't even thought about it much before, but now Wrex has inadvertently brought it up, the thought of the one of the two very real people on this ship, my new friends, dying is like having an anvil dropped on my head. I really hadn't thought about it, and probably for good reason…fuck's sake, I need to cheer up. Virmire's a long way away, and maybe it'll be different, or something…

"You know, Wrex, you might be right," I nod, slowly, still mulling over his words. "Food for thought."

"What?"

"Human idiom," I explain, unable to help smiling a bit. I always love it when the aliens get confused at our idioms… "I want to see the rest of the crew before we hit the Citadel, actually," I say, signalling an end to the conversation, which Wrex seems perfectly happy with. "I'll see you later, Wrex."

"Yeah, see you," the krogan mutters, before turning his attention back to…whatever it is he does down here. Well, that was a rather depressing conversation…though at least on the bright side, he doesn't see me as a complete weakling anymore! Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess.

I stroll into engineering, the sight of the drive core lifting my spirits, as does the sight of the quarian waving to me as I walk in. If I ever want somewhere to cheer me up, I need to come here. The sight of the drive core always gives me chills, in a good way, plus talking to the eternal optimist that is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is guaranteed to help.

"How's things, Tali?" I ask, walking up to her. Even though I can't see her face, the general body language suggests she's probably smiling under the mask.

"Good, thank you," she replies, happily. "Everything in engineering's running smooth, we just optimised the drive core balance to maximise…"

I hold up my hands against the barrage of technical talk I can feel is coming. "That's great, Tali, but I meant how are things with you specifically."

"Oh, right," she says, sounding a little embarrassed. "Well, they're good, as well. I was hoping to see a little action with Shepard, truth be told, but there'll be other missions. Besides, it gave me plenty of time to put in work here."

"I reckon Shepard's just testing the squad, finding out everyone's strengths and weaknesses," I reassure her. "If you're not on the next mission, I'd be amazed. Same with Ash."

"That's good to know," she responds, sounding relieved. "I like the ship, but I didn't sign up just to be an engineer."

"God, of course not," I say. "We all saw you in the alleyway, seems you can handle yourself pretty well."

"I'd still be dead without you there," she points out, tone of voice sounding almost…teasing?

"Yeah, so you keep reminding me," I say. "Believe me, once you get out in the field, people saving your life becomes pretty much normal practice. It does for me, anyway."

"I'll bear that in mind," she laughs. "Shepard came down to see me earlier, actually, we talked about what happened on the mission. From the sounds of it, I got quite a good one to miss."

"Jesus Christ, tell me about it," I sigh. "Zombies, mind controlling plants, geth everywhere, almost falling off a skyway…I reckon Saren's going to have trouble topping that kind of opposition for us anywhere else!"

"I certainly hope so," she says. "Killing geth sounds better than fighting mutated plant life forms. Tech skills probably work better with the former."

Tech skills…that actually reminds me. I barely ever use my omni-tool in fights, so maybe Tali can give me some kind of techniques or something to help with that… "Speaking of tech," I begin, feeling a little awkward asking for help like this, "can you give me a hand with my omni-tool?"

"Sure," she nods, happily. "Why, what's wrong with it?" Well, she doesn't seem to mind…

"Underpowered, if anything," I say, pulling back my sleeve and exposing the tiny device attached to my wrist. "Doesn't matter how much energy I'm putting into an Overload, the best I'm getting is maybe taking down a geth trooper's shields, when I'm going for the kill."

"I think I know the problem," Tali says, reaching out and grabbing my wrist with one three-fingered hand, removing the omni-tool skilfully with the other. I swear I feel a little spark or something when she touches my skin…but she doesn't seem to have noticed it as she pulls the device away and starts examining it. Probably just electronic discharge from the omni-tool when it got removed…

"Yeah, I thought so," she mumbles, pretty much to herself. "You got this from C-Sec, right?" I nod, but she keeps talking, obviously knowing she was right without even having to check my response. "They put a power limiter on these, so one person can't cause too much damage. Pretty easy to override, though, at least it is for a quarian. Give me a second." She opens her omni-tool, presses a few buttons, fiddles with my omni-tool… "There we are," she says brightly. "All done."

"Shit, that was quick," I say, admiringly, as she hands it back to me and I snap it back into place. I pop it open and quickly check the display…and true to her word, I've got almost double the power discharge available in it than I had before. "Cheers, Tali!"

"Cheers?" she asks. "Isn't that what humans say when they're toasting drinks to something?"

I laugh when she says that, and the quarian immediately folds her arms when I do. Oh, crap, that probably seemed a little insensitive… "I'm not laughing at you," I quickly explain, "but I've had a friend ask me that before, before I came onto the ship, even before C-Sec. She pretty much said exactly what you did, word for word. It basically just means thank you, but in a less formal way."

"Oh, okay," Tali says, unfolding her arms and taking a much happier position. "Sorry, but sometimes people find it hard to tell if I'm confused or just joking because they can't see my expression, and I get a little defensive if they misinterpret it or something."

"No, no, it's fine," I say quickly. "I shouldn't have laughed, anyway, it was rude."

"Forget about it, I can see why you did," she reassures me, before a small beep from her omni-tool sounds and she curses under her breath. "Sorry, Ian, I need to get some stuff done before we reach the Citadel, that beep meant we'll be arriving in about an hour. My omni-tool's not doing too good itself, I want to see if I can fix it."

"No problem, I was gonna try and find Ash before we touched down," I say. "Actually, Garrus and I were going shopping on the Citadel when we get there, for armour and stuff. If it turns out you need a new omni-tool, feel free to come with. Nice talking to you, anyway."

"You know, I might do that. But tell Garrus not to talk about the Flotilla, because it's not funny!" I chuckle. Oh, man, those two have some good banter… "And it was nice talking to you as well," she continues happily. "Cheers."

I laugh properly now as I walk out, smiling to the quarian and getting a wave goodbye as I walk out the door. Man, Ash isn't in her usual spot…screw it, if we've got an hour before we reach the Citadel, I promised myself I'd look into going to the gym after how tired I was on Feros…may as well just bite the bullet and get it done.

#########

I stroll into the gym on the floor below the garage, adjacent to the crew quarters. And holy crap, it beats the _shit _out of the equipment I was using in 2010. Treadmills with holographic displays, computer displays on all the weights machines to track workout progress and ideal work-load, all manner of cardiovascular stuff…and in a large area to the side, a combat training zone, complete with punch-bags, mats, and even a padded sparring ring. The gym is pretty much empty, except for one crewman I don't know having a go on a treadmill, and conveniently, Ash is also down here, beating the shit out of one of the bags, wearing a vest and tracksuit bottoms. I suppose if I want a gym buddy, she's as good a one as any…

"Ian," she gasps on approach, sounding pretty tired. I can see a thin coat of sweat on her forehead and arms…and from the looks of the bag, she's been here a while. "What brings you down here?"

"Exercise, unfortunately," I smile. "Can't be getting fat in between missions, can I?"

"Don't think there's much risk of that," the Chief grins back, removing the gloves on her hands and taking a slug of water from the bottle she's got sat on the floor next to us. "Missions have a way of keeping you fit, if you know what I mean. Plus, Shepard was telling me about your occasional hand to hand fighting on Feros. Getting up close and personal tends to be better than hanging back and shooting."

"Agreed," I nod. "My legs are still hurting from kicking a krogan."

Ash laughs at that. "Not bad, Ian. But Shepard also said you got taught by Garrus, and turian techniques have got nothing on what the Alliance teach you."

"I dunno, Ash," I reply, a little cockily. "Garrus was a hand to hand specialist in the turian military, I think he knows what he's talking about."

"Maybe, but teaching turian techniques to a human, something's got to be lost in the translation."

"What are you trying to say?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "You want proof?"

"There's a sparring ring right here," she grins confidently, eyes flashing mischievously. "So I guess you're right. Some proof would be nice."

"You're joking, right?" She continues grinning at me. Oh, fuck, she isn't bullshitting… "Isn't a bit dangerous? Having a fight, when we've got missions and stuff coming up?"

"Oh, relax, it's controlled," she scoffs. "I'm not going to punch you out, and I imagine you're going to show the same courtesy. Whoever can pin the other and force them to tap out wins. No cheap tactics, no moves that are going to put the other person out of commission. You can do that, right?"

I'm torn. On one hand, I'm a bit worried about getting injured, especially with everything I know is coming up…but on the other, I don't want to look like a coward by backing out. Besides, while I'm not the biggest person…I reckon I can still take her.

"Alright," I finally nod, clapping my hands together. "So, do we need to change, or something?"

"You should be fine in t-shirt and jeans," she says. "I'll stick with what I've got. No armour, no gloves, let's do this properly."

I take a quick look around the gym. The one crewman's heading out of the gym, looking like he's caught word of what's about to go down. Well, at least if she kicks my ass, there's no-one around to see it happen…

"This all seems rather sudden," I say, following her into the matted area set out for sparring, still barely able to believe I agreed to this. "So, no breaking limbs, try and pin you rather than just beating you up…"

Ash nods impatiently. "And just tap out if you can't keep up any more. You ready?" She's adopting a proper fighting pose opposite me…shit, she looks like she knows what she's doing! Ah! I immediately regret this decision! Still, too late to back out now without losing face…

"As much as I'll ever be," I say warily, crouching slightly to alter my centre of gravity and sizing Ash up. She doesn't look too physically strong…but I'll bet she's quick, and with her size she'll probably be looking to use my strength against me. My heart's pounding quick already, and the fight's not even started!

"Good." Her grin goes even wider, and she takes one small step back. "Then let's begin." And with that, she rushes forward, launching a balled fist at my face. I barely knock it to the side with my forearm, ducking under her following hook and frantically spinning away from the kick she launches at my side. Fuck, she's quick! I knew it!

"Not a bad reaction speed," she notes, circling around the ring, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet. "But the power in your blocks needs work."

I lunge at her, going in with a straight she dodges with ease by tilting her head slightly. We both go to kick the other's legs, our shins banging together and sending pain shooting up my leg. Resisting the urge to grab the area in pain, I try to uppercut Ash in the abdominal, but she skips back and lands her side kick this time, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I gasp out, crumpling slightly…which is fortunate, because it saves me from the fist launched at where my head was milliseconds ago. I do a quick back roll out of the way, hanging to the edges of the ring as there's a sudden respite in the fight. Ash keeps on moving, eyes locked on my face, trying to read my expression.

"Defensive play isn't going to win you a fight, Ian," she mocks, trying to goad me. Well, girl, I ain't playing your game…she seems to be relying on the counter-attack quite a lot, trying to catch me off balance. Well, I'm not falling for…

There's a sudden noise from across the gym as the elevator hits the floor, and I glance over to look at. The glance quickly turns into a stare, as literally half the Normandy crew pours out of the elevator and scoots over to the ring, forming a circle around us. Jesus, the entire squad's here, Shepard, Garrus, Tali…out of nowhere, a punch to my jaw knocks me off my thoughts and sends me spiralling to the side, clutching at my face and barely keeping my balance. There's some shouts from the crowds, some encouraging Ash, some yelling 'cheap shot!' as Ash lands the punch, and I look up to the see the Gunnery Chief smiling at me. A sudden silence descends on the assembled crowd, as we both eye each other up. I'm breathing heavily from where I took the kick…Ash, on the other hand, seems to be having no trouble at all. Fuck the negativity, I can do this!

"You've got a jacked up sense of fair play, pal," I finally growl. "And it's beginning to piss me off." And with that, I take two quick steps forward, quickly jabbing her in the chest. I distinctly hear Garrus's flanging voice shouting something encouraging as I do, but I don't listen to the words, focusing on landing another quick punch on her cheek. The Chief takes two steps back, seemingly dazed, and I launch in for a throw. Big mistake. I manage to grab her, but the move's too slow, and the smile on her face when I do it show's I'm playing straight into her hands. Fuck, being dazed was just a ploy…

I don't have time to reflect on it, though, as she shoves my hands away and cracks me in the face with a right hook, sending starts flying around my eyes. Where she pretended to be dazed, I suddenly feel completely out of it. My eyesight seems to be jumping around a little bit, one second she's in front of me, the next right up in my face…a pair of surprisingly strong hands grab me around the waist from behind, and I feel myself being lifted up into the air. Even through the pain haze, one thought strikes through with clarity.

Oh fuck. I'm getting suplexed.

The next thing I feel is my back slamming onto the mat with incredible force, and hear a mixture of cheers and groans from the crowd as it happens. The blow actually helps knock me out of being stunned…but Ash is on me before I can react, grabbing my right arm and twisting it into an excruciating lock. Ah, fuck! I struggle wildly, but she's too good for that, positioning herself in the exact place I can't get to her. I struggle for a few seconds, before she twists the arm even more, making it feel like my shoulder's going to pop out of the socket. Aaaaaaaah, SHIT!

I reach out with my free arm and frantically tap the mat. There's no way I'm getting out of that lock…and if I didn't tap out, I honestly think she'd have broken my arm! Ash releases immediately, rolling off my back to applause from the members of the crowd who were supporting her, accompanied by the curses of some crew members. I bet they were placing bets on the winner, those bastards…I just lie there, trying to get as much oxygen as I can into my lungs, tentatively flexing my arm to make sure there's no permanent damage. I hear loud footsteps pounding along as people walk away, but this set is getting closer and closer to me…I look up, and see Urdnot Wrex standing over me, smiling at my misfortune.

"I take back what I said about not thinking you were weak," he grins, then just turns and walks off, not even bothering to help me up. "I'll see you later." Fucking Wrex! I roll onto my back, and gingerly climb to my feet. Ash dusts off her hands theatrically as I look over at her.

"That's all the evidence I needed," she says. I'd go over there to wring her neck for that cockiness…too bad she'd kick my ass if I even tried. "If you want lessons, find out how to fight properly, I'll be here or in the garage."

I just look at her, amazed by how casually she's making the offer. Knocks me all over the place, and then just offers me lessons…that said, I probably could do with some after that performance…

"Alright," I nod, which also helps click my neck back into place slightly after the suplex. "A bit of practice, and we'll see. You teach me, and soon the apprentice will become the master."

"Uh-huh," she laughs. "Go and get cleaned up, Ian. We're touching down at the Citadel any minute now."

"It was horrible talking to you Ash," I say sarcastically, as I head to the elevator. "Let's do it again some time."

"See ya, Ian," she grins as I walk into the elevator, and the door slides shut behind me. As soon as it does, I put my back against the wall, slide down it, and start looking at the new set of bruises I just picked up.

I hate that girl.

**A/N: That concludes the Normandy interactions, but we've still got a shopping trip on the Citadel to take care of with myself, Garrus and Tali. Fun times there, plus we'll run into an old friend from C-Sec…and from there, onwards to Therum! There's still one squad member we gotta collect.**

**200 reviews, guys! (212 if you want to be precise.) That be EPIC. So, in the spirit of the chapter, cheers for that! (See what I did ther…yeah, not funny.)**

**If you want to fill in that poll…well, I leave it to you and your conscience. I mean, do you actually want to basically help play what's essentialy massive prank on m…I'm not helping my cause, am I?**

**Alright, until next time!**


	12. Ian vs The Armour

Chapter 12

Train: Save Me, San Fransisco

**A/N: Well, the final interaction chapter before we start blowing shit up again on Therum is upon us. Feedback seems to be people like just talking to the crew and all the everyday stuff…so longer sections off-mission are definitely in now! I always thought it was weird that the squad barely ever left the ship unless they were with Shepard…so now, it's time for Ian, Tali and Garrus to hit the Citadel! **

I cram my armour into the case that came with it, unable to shake off the feeling I've got at least two pairs of eyes boring into my back as I do it. Wrex is probably staring at me from across the garage, ready to shoot my an amused grin as soon as I turn around, and Ash is right next to me while I remove my stuff from my equipment locker, presumably with the same expression prepared for me. Going up against the professional soldier and not expecting to get humiliated…good one, Ian! I'd facepalm, if it wouldn't cause even more embarrassment for me than I've got to deal with already. At least when I head onto the Citadel I won't have to worry about Wrex and Ash making remarks…just Garrus and Tali instead. Christ, it's going to be a long shore leave…

I glance over to where the Mako should be, the area made conspicuous in its absence. Garrus is also missing, but I'm guessing he's already waiting for me and Tali up by the airlock. Hell, Tali's probably up there with him, considering I already know I'm running late. I pretty much hid away in the garage for the remaining hour to the Citadel after the 'fight' (i.e. me getting my ass kicked) to avoid the ribbing from half the crew, but I've lost track of time playing some futuristic version of minesweeper on my omni-tool, and now I'm running five minutes late for my rendezvous with Garrus and Tali to go out onto the Citadel. Goddammit, why the hell won't the armour fit into the case! It's like those really stupid sleeping bags where the actual roll doesn't fit back into the thing it's supposed to be stored in…

"Need a hand?" Ash asks, sounding far too amused by the situation. "Is an armour case proving too difficult a fight for you as well?"

"No thanks!" I grunt, putting in one last ditch effort to cram the lid down. It _just _about fully closes, giving me enough time to click the box locks on and breathe out a sigh of relief. "I can handle boxes, highly trained soldiers are usually the main problem."

"Like I said, the lessons are on offer if you want them," she grins. "God knows you need them."

"I can handle myself perfectly well against most people! You're the exception!" Ash just laughs, so I throw my hands up in frustration and grab the armour case, grabbing a pistol and holster and attaching it to my leg. "You are allowed to take weapons onto the Citadel with a permit, right? Does working with a Spectre count as a permit?"

"Yeah," she nods. "Though with your hand to hand skills, I don't know why you're bothering with one." I shoot her a massive glare, and head towards the elevator without bothering to say goodbye. Wrex just chuckles as I walk towards him, not saying anything. Actually, the armour case is actually fairly heavy…just as I pass the krogan by, I let go of the case, the bottom slamming into his foot. The krogan groans in pain a little bit, as I act surprised as best I can and look into his face, which has an expression of mild pain on it.

"Shit, sorry, Wrex!" I say, mock apologetically. "The handles on these are so crap, and it's quite heavy. You know me, weak, can't help it…" The pained expression has gone, and is quite quickly being replaced by one of fury. Hmm… "Anyway, see you in a bit," I call out, rushing towards the elevator before Wrex loses whatever better judgement he has and just punches me in the face.

##########

"You're late."

"You're pointing out the obvious. In my books, that's worse."

Garrus frowns at me as I finally dash up to him and Tali, my case firmly in hand. I hear a little chuckle from Tali at my comeback, as she presses the door panel to open out onto the Citadel. "I already checked out with Pressly, Shepard's out getting the new Mako and dealing with some other stuff.""

"So, where to first?" I ask. "I need an armour repair shop, if you know anywhere particularly good."

"I was looking for a new omni-tool," Tali adds, as we step through into the decontamination unit. "Plus I haven't really had that much time to look around the Citadel the brief time I've spent here. Being chased by crime lords and assassins doesn't lead to much sightseeing."

"I think I know an armour place for you, Ian," Garrus says thoughtfully. "Run by a family friend of ours, but he's got some of the best quality craftsmanship around. Mods, repairs, whatever. There's plenty of tech stores around, as well, for Tali."

"Alright, we'll go to your place first, Garrus, see what we can find for Tali on the way." The door out into the spaceport opens, and we all step out. It feels odd, stepping onto the Citadel in my t-shirt and jeans, pistol on my hip…just like what I wore with C-Sec, minus the warrant badge in my pocket. Garrus standing next to me…it's barely anything, but after just one mission with Shepard in full armour and the change of pace that entailed, there's something awfully nostalgic about the situation. We walk over to the elevator, checking we've got our credit chips and all the necessary stuff to go shopping. I wonder what I should get for my armour, what colour to make it, design…

"So, Tali, tell me about life on the Flotilla," Garrus says as the elevator doors close, tone of voice suggesting he's messing around. Tali seems to twig on that, folding her arms and leaning against the wall as we descend. Yet another slow elevator journey, here we come…

"We already talked about the Flotilla, Garrus," she says patiently. "There's not much to tell."

"Come on," he goads. "That many people living together, that close, there's got to be some stories you've got of life there."

"Nothing someone who wasn't quarian would find interesting." Tali's tone is become progressively more annoyed…I feel like I should intervene, but it is kind of funny watching Garrus wind her up.

"How about your immune system, then?" the turian asks. "Is it true I could kill you by breathing on you?"

"No."

"Would it if another species breathed on you?"

"No."

The C-Sec lobby just comes into sight as she says that, signalling we've still got about thirty seconds of the journey left. I wonder if Tali will have killed Garrus by then…

"But I thought if you got like a suit breach, you'd die, or something," Garrus continues, not discouraged by Tali's obvious attempts to kill the conversation.

"Then you thought wrong, you bosh'tet!" she replies angrily, finally snapping at Garrus's persistent questioning. "It can cause trouble over time, but I wouldn't just drop dead!"

There's an awkward silence as we descend, Garrus finally shutting up just as we reach the floor. Well, at least that's…

"How do you use toilets with the suits?" Garrus asks, just as the doors open. Tali whirls around to look at him, hands balling into fists. Maybe this would be a good time to step in…

"Children, grow up," I say to both of them, walking out into C-Sec and looking over my shoulder at Garrus. The turian shrugs innocently, and Tali adopts an indignant pose.

"Grow up? He's the one being immature!" Tali protests.

"Immature?" Garrus gaps theatrically. "I show genuine interest in the quarian people, and I get treated like this? I'm offended, Tali."

"Wounded, even?" I suggest.

"_Hurt_, Tali," Garrus continues to her. Tali just shakes her head, but even she can't help chuckling.

"Never mind, then," she sighs. "We'd better get to that shop soon, or else C-Sec if going to have a murder investigation on their hands." She looks pointedly at Garrus when she says that.

"Erm…maybe you should walk with me, Tali," I say, giving Garrus a stare that hopefully says 'leave it.' The turian gives me a look of confusion, then starts glancing around C-Sec as we head towards the exit. Obviously that stare didn't work, then...talking with your eyes is unreliable at best. Kind of impossible, if you're quarian.

"So," Tali says to me, as Garrus lags behind a bit. "Do you want to know anything about the Flotilla?"

I give her a look of confusion. "Didn't you just say to Garrus it wouldn't be interesting for anyone who wasn't –"

"That's because Garrus is a bit of an idiot," she replies, happily. "With your alien culture studies, I thought you of all people would be interested to hear about quarian life from an actual quarian."

"Of course," I smile, but inside I can't help feeling a little bit sad. I already know what's she going to tell me, mostly, through playing Mass Effect and reading Ascension…I can't shake the feeling that somehow life would be better without what I know, that I could really get to know Tali and the rest of the squad without already knowing their origins…

Then again, there's a big difference between following pre-set dialogue and talking to someone in reality. Just because I know _about _her, doesn't I mean I actually know her. We're here, we're talking, and I'm not restricted to a controller and three different responses. It doesn't matter what I know from the past, it's about what I've got now.

"Of course," I repeat, giving a real smile now. "Very much interested. Have you got any particular stories in mind?"

"One or two. Did I ever tell you about quarian society, and the admiralty?" she asks, sounding eager to share it. You did, Tali…but I'll listen to it again.

"Nope," I lie. "I hope it's long, though, cos it's quite a way to the shop."

"Please," she laughs. "If I could explain everything about the Flotilla in less than an hour, I'd be worried about my people's culture." And with that, she launches into a familiar story, but I'm still more than happy to hear it.

#########

"By the spirits, Ian, what have you done?"

Garrus is looking astounded by the terminal display in the armour shop, as I fiddle with the design simulation for the changes I want to make with my armour. "Pink's not your colour?" I ask. Though I've got to admit, it does look pretty garish. I reckon it'd be funny for a day, but I really don't have the money to be changing armour colour for a joke whenever I feel like it.

"It's no-one's colour," Garrus points out. "Try blue."

"Then it looks like we're wearing the same armour," I complain, as I mess with the colours even more. Christ, purple looks even worse than pink! "It's embarrassing. People will think we've done it on purpose or something, and it'll look stupid." Garrus wasn't lying about the armour shop, though, it's awesome. All the latest stuff, plus this genius simulation thing I'm absolutely loving. Garrus greeted the turian owner, Laet, warmly when we arrived. Apparently, the the Vakarians and Laet's family were friends in his younger days, so the two know each other pretty well. It also means Laet gave us pretty much unrestricted access to the shopping equipment as well, so bonus!

"Laet!" I shout over to him, and the turian swivels his head to look at me from behind the counter. "Have you taken a look at the damage on my armour yet?"

"Just finished," he nods. "The gouges are mostly superficial, and the acid damage should come out no problem. If you decide what changes you want to make, I should be able to get this up and ready for you in…probably about two or three hours."

"Thanks," I nod, when a sudden thought hits me. "Actually, you know those gouges?" Laet nods. "Is there any way you can reinforce the area where they are, but still keep them on the armour?"

"Ahh," Laet says knowingly. "Going for the badass look?"

"Thought I was the only one who appreciated that these days," I grin. "Can you do it?"

"If it comes to crafting, there's nothing I can't do," the cocky turian replies. "Not a problem."

I look over at Garrus. "This guy's awesome, Garrus. Why can't you be more like Laet?"

"Yeah, Garrus," Laet perks up from behind the counter. "Why can't you be more like me? Handsome, funny, good repairman…"

"It would be a nice change," Tali comments dryly.

"Just pick your armour mods, Ian," Garrus says, sounding a little bit flustered. "Laet, don't encourage him to take the piss."

The other turian rolls his eyes, as I turn back to the console, idea forming in my mind. If I keep the claw marks in, change the base colour to a light grey, bring out the chest plate a little bit…I switch to the detail brush, colouring it deep red. I start drawing an outline, starting small with the head in the middle of the chest-piece, wing expanding over most of the left shoulder, tail going down the left bicep…the software kicks in, second-guessing what I'm trying to draw, adding a paint splash effect to it. I take a step back from the console, and admire my handiwork. Perfect.

The Blood Dragon armour is projected on the screen before me, minus the ridiculous shoulder pads. Man, that looks…awesome. Probably not the most inconspicuous thing I could buy, but then again neither is Garrus's blue armour. Plus, with the gouges, it's really damn cool. At least, it is in my opinion.

"That's…not that bad," Garrus says, looking at the screen. "Inspired, actually. What made you think of that?"

"Oh, nothing," I mutter, turning to address Laet. "Think you can sort that for me, buddy?"

"No problem. I'll put in the shield booster like you said, as well…" he presses a few buttons on the terminal in front of him, then looks up at me. "That'll be 6,126 credits, please."

I literally stagger slightly when he says the price, already feeling my credit chit draining away. "Holy shit, how much?" I've only got 5,000 in my account, that's the most I can spend…fuck, if I somehow afford this, I've got to make sure to never get it damaged!

"6,126," Laet repeats. "This is high quality craftsmanship, plus those shield boosters don't come cheap!" I consider my options. Garrus vouches this guy as the best armour merchant on the Citadel, I _really _want that design…hmm, I could always try and get a discount, provided I don't have to record some god-awful advert…

"Look, mate, I can't afford that," I say. "Can you give me a discount?"

"Can you give me a reason to?"

"Laet, we're fighting geth, all across the galaxy. This is the most dangerous occupations ever to exist, and I need quality armour. But if I'm lying dead while geth take over the galaxy because I couldn't afford what you were selling, how are you gonna feel?" Laet's mandibles open a little bit…he probably wasn't expecting that. Then again, why would he?

"Think in the long-term as well," I continue. "The Alliance pays for any repairs to my armour, not the customisation. I'm probably not going to get it customised for a while, but I'm going to need repairs quite often. If I insist on getting repairs done by your business, that's a big source of income for you. My boss'll sign off on it, as well. You give me a discount in the short term, you end up making a lot of money in the long term." I reach out a hand. "We got a deal?"

Late looks unsure for a few seconds, before finally his talon slowly snakes out towards mine. "20% discount, but you'd better not be screwing me around with this repair licence."

"I honour my promises," I reassure him, firmly shaking the talon. "Cheers, mate."

"Come back in three hours," he tells me, while I hand over the credit chit and he pretty much drains my account. "I'll be ready for you by then, alright?"

"Thanks again," I nod, heading to the door with Garrus and Tali following suit.

"I'm expecting the repair contract paperwork to come through in less than three days!" Laet yells after us as we leave. "I'll see you in a bit!"

############

"I didn't realise you were so…shrewd," Tali admits, as we stand outside a dextro-amino food store while Garrus buys better food supplies for himself and Tali. The two managed to agree on something, finally, that the ship food was absolutely appalling. Garrus is paying for it out of his own pocket, which is nice…though I wouldn't be surprised if he approached Shepard about reimbursement later.

"Shrewd?" I raise an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Getting Laet to drop his price," she explains. "I mean, most people would have walked out the shop or paid full price, but you negotiated him down. The thing about a repair contract was a nice touch, as well."

"Thanks, I thought so too."

She sighs, folds her arms and turns her head towards me. If I could see her face, she'd probably be pouting. "Do you get your attitude from Garrus, or something?" Wow, she actually sounds a bit annoyed…

"Eh? What're you talking about?"

"I pay you a compliment, and all I get back from you is a little shrug or something. There's no need to be sarcastic when I'm trying to make conversation!"

What the fuck? "Whoa, Tali, I'm not being sarcastic. Just trying to be funny, though it's obviously not worked." The quarian looks at me for a few more seconds, body language suggesting she's going to get mad…then she just sighs deeply and leans against the wall we're standing against.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit on edge. If I get nervous, I tend to get annoyed easily when other people are relaxed…" I give her a confused look. "You don't know what the problem is, do you? Look over to your left," the quarian sighs.

I do, but nothing seems out of the ordinary… "What? What am I looking for?"

"Two turians, one wearing some green outfit." I immediately twig on the pair she's talking about…hey, the one in green is looking right at us! So's his friend! One says something to the other, and they both laugh. While still looking at us. Oh, I see what they think's so funny…

"They're talking about us," Tali mutters. "Quarian hanging around with a human, and I can read mouths pretty well." She glances back over at me. "Sorry, I'm causing embarrassment for you…"

"Tali, I am not embarrassed to be around you," I say, quickly and firmly. "Those bloody idiots are the ones who should be embarrassed." Tali's posture relaxes a bit as I look back towards the turians, making direct eye contact with the one in green. I'm tempted to go over there and make something of it…but we've come out for a shopping trip, not a rumble. Those bastards want to laugh at their own stupid joke, that's their problem.

The turian I'm looking at mutters something to his friend, still holding eye contact with me. His mate nods, and they both head towards me and Tali, movements slow and fairly menacing. Looks like they're not as concerned about starting a fight as I am…for fuck's sake!

"You got a problem, pal?" the turian dressed in green says, invading my personal space within a matter of seconds. Bad move.

"I could ask you the same question." My hands ball into fists, but I don't move to attack. Last thing I'm doing is starting this fight…but if it kicks off, I'm gonna finish it. "Didn't your parents tell you it's rude to stare?"

The turian chuckles sarcastically, as does his friend, who's wearing one of those stupid hats turians wear to hide their fringes. "When you see a couple like you two, it's hard not to. A quarian, human? Really? That's low, even for your species standards. Can't get someone your own kind, so you turn to her. Then again, a quarian's hardly in the position to say no."

I take a step forward, getting right up in the turian's face, but still not laying a hand on him. I want to punch him so much right now, every single word he says brings me closer and closer…but someone's got to be the bigger person here, and I'll be damned if it's going to be him. "We're just friends," I inform him, calmly. "And even if we a couple, at least I'm going for the opposite sex, unlike some people." I point towards his hat-wearing friend. I feel a little bit bad about saying that…but I'm not hating on homosexuals, just saying it to get him riled. "You take your boyfriend here and leave, before you do something you're gonna regret."

It seems to have done the trick, as a deep-throated growl emits from the turian. Looks like he's not backing down…I put one foot back, get ready to move into a fighting stance…

"What's going on here?" a flanging voice says, from behind the turians. Hold on, I recognise that voice…and it's not Garrus. I can't quite place my finger on it…the turians whirl around to face the new turian, whose face is annoyingly obscured by the hat wearing one.

"Erm…nothing, Executor!" one of them stammers, taking a small step backwards. Executor…the hat wearing turian moves to the side as well, and there he is.

Of all the people to come to my rescue, it's Executor Pallin.

"Doesn't look like nothing," he comments, dryly, glancing over to me and Tali. "Is there a problem here?"

"It's nothing," I growl, glaring at our would-be attackers. "These two were just leaving. Right, guys?" There's an awkward silence as the turians look at me and Tali, then towards Pallin, then back to us.

"Yeah, just going," one of them finally sighs. "I think we're done here." And with that, the two of them stalk off down the street, trying to maintain some kind of swagger despite the fact they got…well, owned, by Pallin. The Executor watches them go until they're a fair distance away, then turns back to look at Tali and I. He looks a little annoyed…then again, he always did.

"Ian." He gives me a nod of greeting. "You always did have a way of getting into trouble, didn't you? And if you're here, I presume Vakarian is around somewhere too…" Spot on cue, Garrus emerges from the shop with a bag of supplies, almost dropping them when he sees Pallin.

"Hey, Executor," he finally says, awkwardly.

"I knew it," Pallin chuckles. "Inseparable even when you're not at C-Sec. And the quarian, is she…"

"A friend," Tali interrupts, quickly. "A colleague, as well, on the ship we're serving on. The Normandy."

"Of course. I know where you're working, Ian, and who for. It was all on the papers I got telling me why you wouldn't be coming back to C-Sec. Still, a face to face resignation would have been nice, rather than getting the Alliance to sort it out for you," he says.

"It was a bit of a rush," I admit. "Thinking about how to resign was kind of low on my priorities, compared to avoiding being shot and heading out after a rogue Spectre."

"That's probably a fair comment," he replies. "So, you're after Saren?" I raise an eyebrow. Am I supposed to let him know that, considering he was good friends with Saren… "It was a rhetorical question," Pallin explains. "I know you are, and I'm not against it."

"I thought Saren was a friend of yours," Garrus points out, with his usual tact. "And you're in support of the search for him?"

"The key word you used there, Vakarian, is 'was'," he replies coolly. "Past tense. Friends before he brought the geth back and murdered people. Nihlus was a great friend of mine." He looks sad for a moment, then looks back at Garrus and I. "I'm surprised Shepard chose you two, though."

"Really?" I ask, genuinely shocked. "And why's that?"

"You're both impulsive, reckless, ignore rules on a regular basis, brash…" I look over at Garrus, who just shrugs. Guess we can't exactly deny any of this… "You're troublemakers, and borderline irresponsible at times." the Executor continues, as Tali chuckles quietly behind me.

"Er…" I start to say, unsure how to react.

"But by the spirits," Pallin says, small smiling forming as his mandibles widen slightly. "Despite all that, you're both still two of the best detectives I've ever had working for me. I guess it shouldn't be too much of a shock Shepard chose you, after all." My jaw pretty much hits the floor when he says that, and I'm pretty sure Garrus's face is doing something similar next to me.

"You actually mean that?" I finally ask, dumbfounded. "Two of the best? The whole getting pissed off at us all the time thing was just an act to get us to work harder?"

"No," he growls. "You're also two of the most annoying people I've ever had working for me." Tali properly laughs when he says, but quickly stifles it. "You had a habit of causing me more trouble than you were worth, but nobody's perfect." I suppose we kind of deserved that…we probably could have been a _wee _bit more tactful during our time at C-Sec. Still, all this time, Pallin did secretly quite like us…my omni-tool suddenly beeps, and I take a look down at it. That's been three hours since I gave Laet my armour…time to pick it up, plus we'll need to be back at the ship down quite soon.

"Of course, you're probably busy," Pallin says, without me even having to excuse myself. "Garrus, Ian, and…" he glances at Tali.

"Tali," she informs him.

"Tali. It was good seeing you. Good luck with your mission, and…" he frowns, looks at the floor, then looks back at us. "I'm probably going to regret saying this later, but once you're done, there's always going to be two detective positions at C-Sec for you."

Garrus steps forward, reaches out a talon, and both turians shake on it. "We'll bear it in mind," he smiles. "It was good to see you, Executor. And I never thought I'd say that." Pallin looks like he's about to say something back…but instead, the turian just chuckles, turns on his heel, and walks off towards C-Sec.

"Not a bad guy, after all," I mutter, as we all watch him leave.

"Obviously not," Garrus murmurs. We all just stand there for a second, watching the figure slowing walking away into the distance. That man controlled my career for two years…and just like that, he's gone, to become just another memory. Unless, of course, Garrus goes back to C-Sec rather than Spectre training after we get Saren…but that's for another time.

"He seemed nice," Tali says, breaking both Garrus and I out of our daze. "Accurate description of the both of you, as well. I quite like him."

"Work for him for two years, and see if you're still saying that," I respond. "Come on, my armour's ready. We can get that omni-tool you wanted on the way as well, Tali." We all head off in the direction of Laet's store, Garrus swinging the supply bag on one talon happily.

"Actually," he suddenly says. "What was going on outside when Pallin walked over to you? I saw these two turians talking to both of you before he arrived."

"Oh, it was nothing," Tali laughs. "They had this idea Ian and I were a couple or something, thought it would be funny to try and show us up."

"Yeah," I laugh as well, but I can't help feeling it's a little empty when I do. "Thought we were a couple. Crazy."

#########

Garrus wasn't lying about Laet being a good craftsman. Not even a little. It didn't take long for us to get back to the store, and the results when we arrived were fantastic. The design looked amazing, at least in my opinion, and without the massive shoulder pads and weird helmet, I'm really damn pleased with it. After we finished up everything at the shop, we all decided to call it a day, and headed back to the Normandy. That trip was definitely more eventful than I'd expected…almost getting into a fight and meeting my old boss wasn't exactly what I'd been gunning for going out. But still, the end result was the same, and I got what I needed.

Plus, bonding time with Garrus and Tali! Which was always going to be good. Laet's buffed up the shields on my new armour a ton as well, so I'm feeling a little bit invincible as I walk into the garage elevator on the Normandy, wearing the new armour. I got a few respectful nods on the way to the elevator from the odd crewmember, even Shepard looked quite impressed at my new gear, so I'm feeling pretty good. The Commander said we were off to Therum next…and once again, I'm on the ground team. Shepard never did actually say who else was coming, on account of her having to rush off and talk to Pressly about something…

The elevator doors open, and I head over towards my locker to put the new armour away. It was cool, being back on the Citadel, looking back at where I've lived for two years…but this is my home now. Whatever it might bring, whatever hardships I'm going to have to face because of it, this is where I belong.

"Hey, Ian," Wrex says, knocking me off my train of thought. "You look like a fucking idiot in that armour."

Damn, it's good to be home.

**A/N: Wow, that chapter changed a LOT from what I initially had in mind…for the better, as well. Improvisation for the win!**

**Like I said at the start, we've got the new mission coming up next. It's most likely going to be a bit shorter than Feros, though, on account of it being a pretty much straight action mission in the game without many side-missions or dialogue…but it'll still be no less entertaining than Feros hopefully was!**

**And I won the bet I had with my mate about the poll on my account. Screw you, Liam! The day is mine, no joke Garrus/Ian romance. **

**Alright, thanks to everyone for reviewing! Almost 250! Cheers, guys! (And girls, of course). See you next chapter! How many exclamation marks can I fit in this one paragraph without even noticing until now! (Over 9000?)**


	13. Ian vs The Mako Pt II

Chapter 13

Two Door Cinema Club: Undercover Martyn

**A/N: Talking and stuff is all well and good, but we've finally come to the time where plot progression must happen! Ain't going to stop Saren by just chatting (though it would be nice if that worked).**

**So, time to rescue a socially inept asari, inevitably blow some stuff up (just cos it's Masses to Masses) and get into fights. Just like old times, eh? (sighs).**

**Before we start, I should probably say…I really hate Therum. One of the most dull missions in the game, in my opinion (at least, the opening half is.) So, I'm not going to include EVERY SINGLE tiny fight on approach. Just one or two things to try and keep it fresh, rather than just 'I shot at the geth, its shields went down, etc.**

**On with the chapter!**

Ugh, Therum. I roll my shoulders in my armour a bit to make sure I'm nice and limber, and to check that my suit isn't restricting my muscle movement. Everything seems to be fine…actually, this seems more comfortable than my armour was before, and all I changed was the paint job! I don't know what Laet's done with it, but I can't complain…

That said, I hope he's fixed it up so I'm impervious to lava, since I'm horribly aware of how much there is on the planet we're about to descend towards. Chakwas did say she'd be able to fix me up if I fell in…but to be honest, I'd rather not find out if she's lying or not the hard way. Besides, it's not like Therum is all narrow walkways and stuff, I'd have to been an idiot to fall into lava. Provided I don't stand too near the edges, I'm gonna be fine. And if Shepard drives the new Mako carefully enough.

Shit, after her antics on Feros with the Mako…careful doesn't seem to be a word in Shepard's vocabulary. You know what, I might just walk instead of sitting in that death-trap…

"You ready?" Ash asks next to me, unfolding her assault rifle and checking the sight. Her hair's pulled back in a tight bob, grenades arranged neatly along her utility belt, and all manner of weaponry attached to various holsters and magnetic strips on her. I feel almost underequipped by comparison, with my two pistols and sniper rifle, and only carrying three grenades to her six. Then again, I'm not going to need them as much on this mission as I did previously, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

"Just about," I nod, grabbing my knife out of the locker and attaching it to the back of my shoulder. I don't really know how much good a knife is ever going to do me, since I don't plan on fighting more varren any time soon…but it's reassuring to have there. Though that's probably because I play too much Resident Evil, and think a knife's obligatory. "So, you're on the ground team, huh?"

"Nah, I just wear this stuff when I got to get something to eat. Can't be too careful." I frown. "Yes, I'm on the ground team, you idiot."

I slam my locker door shut, and head towards the elevator, Ash following close behind. "A yes would do, you know. Just trying to make conversation."

"Are you lecturing me on being sarcastic?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. I sigh, reaching over to press the button for the CIC. She has an uncanny ability to annoy me, and it's getting really…well, annoying!

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask innocently, stabbing the button a lot harder than necessary with my finger and stepping back as the doors begin to close.

"Oh, nothing, just that you're –" A shout from outside the elevator cuts her off midsentence though, which I can't complain about.

"Hold the lift!" Tali's unmistakable voice comes through into the elevator, muffled slightly by the closing doors. I hurriedly reach over and press the button to open the doors, allowing a slightly breathless Tali to enter.

"Thanks," the quarian gasps. "I heard it leaving, and I didn't want to wait for it to come back down. These things take far too long."

"Tell me about it," I chuckle, as the doors close and we slowly begin to travel upwards. Ash doesn't look too pleased at Tali's presence, but as far as I'm concerned she's a bloody lifesaver for turning up when she did. "You'd think the Alliance would get something a little quicker."

"I could probably mod the technology a bit to make it run faster," Tali admits, "but I'm not sure how happy the other engineers would be if I start messing with the ship itself rather than just the drive core.

"Not very," Ash interjects. "I think the speed's a safety feature or something. Probably best not to mess with it." It's a fair point…but the tone of voice Ash uses to say it isn't fair at all. Bordering on scornful, if you ask me…but if Tali notices, she doesn't make anything of it.

"Maybe talk to Shepard about it," I say, trying to be nice, and shooting Ash a little glare as I say it. "Speaking of Shepard, actually…it's a bit of a feminine team this mission, isn't it?" Ash looks a little surprised, and Tali turns to face me, arms folded.

"I suppose so, but is that some kind of problem?" the quarian asks, teasingly. "Do you think your masculinity is at threat, or something?"

"Hardly," I chuckle, absent mindedly getting my pistols out and twirling them around my fingers. Years of having spare time and a gun has taught me to do at least one trick with them… "It's just a little odd, considering it was pretty much an all male squad last mission."

"I'm sure you're versatile enough to deal with it," Ash says mockingly. "Might even show you a thing or two about shooting, never mind hand to hand."

"Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me," I reply casually, not rising to the bait. "You've been Alliance almost all your life, I've been working in C-Sec for two years. I'd almost be disappointed if it turned out I was a better shot than you."

"I don't think there's much risk of that if you're using two pistols," Tali points out, gesturing at my handguns. "Not that accurate, right?"

"You'd be surprised," I say, as the elevator doors finally open on the higher floor. Ash strides on ahead, but Tali and I lag behind a bit as we continue talking. "Low kickback, and you can get a pretty rapid rate of fire out of them. Thinking of calling one Ebony and the other Ivory. Maybe get it engraved on the handles."

"That's…odd," Tali replies unsurely. "Why those names?"

"It's a throwback to this video game I used to play," I explain. Tali's body language suggests she's still clueless. "You know what, it'd take more time to explain than it's worth. Do you think Garrus is up by the airlock already? I didn't see him down in the garage."

"Garrus?" Tali asked, sounding confused. "No, he's not on the ground team, Kaidan's up again. Why?" As soon as she says, I suddenly feel really worried. Garrus isn't on the ground team…it's barely anything, but I'm so used to having him watching my back, just him being there for support…if I ever fell, he was there to catch me, and now I'm getting the horrible feeling of having some sort of safety net removed.

"This is going to sound weird…" I begin, as we head through the door at the top of the stairs, "but I've never been on a mission without Garrus before, I think. The closest I ever got was infiltrating a building by myself, but he was on the outside giving me support."

"And you're feeling worried because of it?" I nod, tentatively. "Ian, that's not weird," she laughs. "But you don't have to worry about it. From what I hear, you can handle yourself fine."

"I know, but that guy's saved my life way more times than I care to mention, plus he's my best mate. There's something reassuring about that," I explain, still feeling a bit nervous.

"I'll watch your back, don't worry about it," Tali says kindly. "Garrus isn't the only friend you've got around here, you know." I take a deep breath, and steel my resolve. Tali's right, it's just psychological. Everyone on this team is just as capable as Garrus…I just need to trust them as much. And who better to start trusting fully than Tali?

"Alright," I nod. "Thanks, Tali. Just nerves, but I needed that."

"No problem," she chuckles. "I'm sure you'd have done the –"

"We've got a mission to do, kid, if you're quite done talking!" Kaidan shouts over from the airlock, raising a snigger from Shepard and Ash. Wow, it's actually a pretty human oriented team…but Tali seems cool with it, so it's all good. Not a bad skill balance, as well…

Shepard claps her hands together, drawing all of our eyes to her. "Now that we're all here," she says, looking at Tali and I, "I'll explain this quickly. The initial plan I had was to land as close to the mining location Dr. T'Soni is in as possible, but we've got geth resistance on the planet and that's not going to be possible. So instead, the Normandy's going to be dropping us off in the Mako a little distance away from the location. So, that means we're all going to have to go back down to the garage and get belted up." There's a groan from all the assembled squad members at the prospect of yet another long elevator journey. "Sorry," Shepard says, though the little grin on her face suggests otherwise, "I only got told about this now."

Huh, in the game I had to look around all the different planets, and even then I didn't know her actual location on Therum…still, I can't complain we hit a lucky break here. Joker must have scanned the planet or something and found out where Liara is. A sudden thought hits me…I remember how the Mako normally got put onto the planet's surface, and it didn't look fun…

"When you say dropping us off in the Mako, Shepard, what exactly do you mean?" I ask, as we walk back towards the elevator.

"It's simple," she smiles reassuringly. "The Normandy's going to make a run over the drop zone, and we'll drop out in the Mako from there. Typical altitude's about a hundred metres, maybe slightly higher. It should only take a few seconds." I just gawp at the Commander as she says that. A hundred metres? What the fuck!

"That's crazy!" I say, feeling more and more panicked. "Isn't the landing going to kill us?"

"It can get a little bumpy," Kaidan laughs. "But it's standard procedure, kid. Relax and enjoy the ride."

"Yeah, relax and enjoy the ride while we drop towards the ground at a really high velocity, where one little error could mean we end up in a river of lava. See anything wrong with that picture, Kaidan?"

"It'll be fine," Shepard says calmly. "Kaidan's right. Just relax, and it'll only take a couple of seconds."

#########

"Shepard, I am really not feeling relaxed. Feeling freaked out, sure, but relaxed is a long way off."

"Oh, man up, Ian," Garrus chuckles, leaning his head through the Mako's open door as we all get into seating positions and wait for the Joker's all clear to go. The new Mako Shepard got is fitted with five seats now, which I'd probably appreciate a lot more if I wasn't getting so panicked right now! "I doubt this is the last time you'll be doing a Mako drop, so just bite the bullet and deal with it."

"Easy for you to say," I point out. "You're not doing it!"

"For someone who cares show much about not being seen as weak," a low voice rumbles, and Wrex's head pops around the corner of the door into my field of vision, "you whine a lot."

I try to come up with some kind of comeback, but just end up mumbling some incomprehensible rubbish born of worry and bury my head against the seat.

"Look, Ian, you've really got nothing to worry about." Garrus says, changing his voice to reassuring and looking at me. "It seriously only takes a few seconds, and it's perfectly safe."

"_Normandy to ground team," _Joker's voice suddenly blares through the intercom. "_Ten seconds to dropzone. Buckle up."_

"Make it a good drop, Joker, the Alliance said they didn't want to have to foot the bill for another trashed Mako," Shepard mutters.

Oh God, this is it…I firmly make sure my belt is secure and tight, hold onto the seat, and clench my teeth.

"Actually," Wrex says, grinning a little bit, "I remember this one krogan who did a drop, belt came undone halfway down. They had to scrape some of him off the roof, he bounced that hard."

"I had a turian break his spine the same way when I was in the military," Garrus smiles sadistically as well, just as the huge doors at the end of the garage open and Shepard guns the engine.

"_Normandy to ground team, it's a go," _Joker announces. "_Good luck."_

"You bastards!" I shout, then Shepard sends the Mako leaping forward and down the ramp. I try to think happy thoughts, but all I'm getting is this horrible image of a krogan splattered on the roof above me…and then we're over.

The first thing that hits me is the horrible feeling where your stomach feels like it's rising up your throat or something. I try to yell, scream out instinctively, but getting any kind of sound out it torture. I can see the sky passing us by as we plummet towards Earth, Kaidan actually smiling near me, euphoria and fear overwhelming my emotions…

Then with a huge slam, we impact the floor, bouncing me up in my seat as my belt kicks in, holding me down. Up front, Shepard wrestles with the wheel, braking the Mako hard and skidding us to a halt, safely within the landing zone. I gasp in lungfulls of air as we stop, clutching at my chest as adrenaline pumps around my system. The fear's quickly being replaced with the sheer rush of what we just did…Christ, that was terrifying, but in equal levels bloody awesome!

"You alright?" Shepard asks, turning around in her seat to look at me. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

I take a few seconds to catch my breath, then look up at the Commander. "We have _got _to do that again sometime. That was scary as hell, but I haven't had a rush like that since…well, not for a long time."

"What did I tell you, kid?" Kaidan asks rhetorically, as Shepard gets the Mako in gear and sets off on the only path available to us. "Relax and enjoy the ride."

"No need to be smug about it Kaidan, even if you were right," I grin at the Lieutenant, as the radio crackles into life and Joker's voice comes through.

"_Picking up some strange readings near you, Commander, and I'm talking off the charts strange. It's probably from the mining area Dr. T'Soni's in."_

"That's…reassuring," Shepard sighs, advancing the Mako forward quite cautiously. "Since when have energy spikes meant good things?"

"_You've got me there, Commander. Keep your guard up, in that case. I don't want to be lifting you out of some lava."_

"You're the last person I'd want to be lifting anything," Shepard retorts. "Ground team out."

"Harsh, but true," Ash nods, smiling. "Let's go check it out, then. We'll see exactly what T'Soni's up to around there." Ooh, picking up some hostility there…it was always awkward when Ash meets Liara in game, but she already doesn't seem to be relishing the prospect of meeting the asari…

As Shepard speeds the Mako towards the target site, I think ahead about Liara. I wonder if she's in her hallucinating stage…God, that's going to be both embarrassing and oddly hilarious if it happens. That said, we haven't left her until last, so theoretically it shouldn't happen. Emphasis on theoretically. This mission has already changed slightly in the fact we're expecting the geth resistance and know where she's at…so her mental state could be different from expected as well, I suppose. I'm not even sure whether I'm rooting for her being sane or hallucinating, to be honest.

"Not as bad as you thought it would be, then?" Tali asks next to me, taking my thoughts off Liara. "The airdrop, I mean."

"Don't get me wrong, that was _terrifying,_" I reply, "but still really good fun. Like watching a horror film, or something."

"Interesting analogy," the quarian chuckles. "I was feeling a little apprehensive about it myself, but that wasn't so bad."

"You were worried too?" I ask incredulously. "Crap, you didn't even make anything of it! I must sound like such a bloody wuss…"

I catch Ash nodding subtly out the corner of my eye, but Tali just laughs it off. "It's alright to be afraid of something, the unknown," she reassures me. "It takes courage to admit you're afraid of something, and you still did the drop without too much bother."

"I guess," I nod slowly, staring into the vague outline of Tali's eyes beneath the mask. "But still, it would have been nice to know I wasn't the only one -"

The sudden roar of an engine overhead drowns out the rest of my words, though, as a geth ship swoops through the sky…and drops two armatures up ahead of us on the curved road we're following.

"Shit…" Shepard mutters, sounding more annoyed at the temporary inconvenience rather than actually worried. "Ian, man the gun and take them out!" Hold on, me? I look around the Mako, surprised, but everyone's looking at me expectantly.

"Shepard, I've got no idea how to fire this thing!" I protest, but still rise to my feet and head towards the gunner's seat. I hope a tutorial on this thing won't take more than a few seconds…

"Just point and shoot, it's not hard!" Shepard quickly replies, jumping the Mako over a projectile from one armature. "Now, please!" I hop into the seat, looking at the controls laid out before me. There's a two joysticks, one simply labelled 'gun' and the other 'cannon', both with large red triggers on them. Wow, she really wasn't lying about it just being a point and shoot exercise…

I cautiously push the two joysticks up and to the right slightly, levelling the crosshairs on one armature. Man, these things are pretty sensitive…but if years of shooting and combat have given me anything, it's a steady hand. Everything's lined up…alright, here we go! I tap the cannon trigger, and hold down the gun. There's an enormous boom that sends the Mako rolling back slightly as the cannon fires, tearing the armature in half as a stream of machine gun fire strafes the wreckage left. A flashing red light on the cannon side of the controls shows it's overheated…that should go away in a few seconds, so I turn my machine gun's attention to the remaining geth.

Shepard lurches the Mako forward as it opens fire on us, surprising me a few seconds, but I put the crosshairs back in place fairly quickly and start chipping away at the geth's shields with bullets. The flashing on the cannon controls goes out…time to go for the finisher! Just as my finger tightens on the trigger, Shepard swerves to the side suddenly, throwing the missile slightly off. Fuck! It slams just to the left of the armature…but the explosion's force is still sufficient to knock it off balance slightly, taking two of its legs out and it tumbling down the slight hill we're on…straight into the lava.

"Not bad, kid," I hear Kaidan say approvingly below, his voice muffled slightly. I smile to myself a little, resetting the crosshairs in front as Shepard guns the engine. Maybe this mission isn't going to be so bad after all…

#########

It doesn't take long for us to reach the first outpost thing, the lack of resistance on the way there quickly corrected by the appearance of two heavy turrets and we swerve in towards the gates. I start firing at them…but Shepard deftly turns us off into a separate path going parallel to the base.

"Hold fire, Ian," Shepard shouts. "We're going to try going around. It's just stupid charging that head on." I lean back in the gunner seat slightly, twirling the joystick and surveying the area. Probably a smart move going around…those turrets suck, if memory serves.

"Be ready to shoot fast," Tali tells me, as we round the corner and leap towards the outpost. "We can catch them by surprise, but geth react quick."

I just grunt in reply as the first few targets come into sight. Two geth with rocket launchers fire straight at us, but Shepard makes the Mako jump over the rockets. My finger tightens on the trigger, and I line up what should be a perfect shot…the shot from the cannon lands slap bang in between both the troopers, sending them both flying limply to the sides. The Mako hurtles into the area, I swivel the turret around to look for more geth, raring to shoot…and there's nothing. Only two geth? This is way easier that I was expecting…not that I'm complaining, of course.

"Gate ahead's locked," Shepard notes, sounding annoyed. "Everyone out, we need to find the controls, wherever they are." I leap down from the gunner's seat and out the door, as we all gather outside the Mako. The whole area's bizarrely quiet…it's a pretty sharp contrast from Feros, where stuff was exploding most of the time and gunfire was constant. It's actually putting me on edge, in a really weird way…

"Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which building we're looking in first?" Shepard asks, gesturing towards the three options open to us. Ah, here's where I can use my vague knowledge of Mass Effect 1 to my advantage without blowing cover! Saves us traipsing around this hellhole any longer than we need too…it's absolutely boiling out here, and the Mako has some kind of climate control, so the sooner we get back in it the better!

"I'm guessing it's the one next to actual gate, Shepard," I say, pointing towards said building on the left hand side. "That would make the most sense, right?"

"Yep," Shepard nods. "Alright, we'll start there. Weapons up, people." We all draw our respective weapons, Tali cocking her shotgun with a menacing noise. If I'd met Tali without knowing anything about her, she's one of the last people I'd have had down as a fearless warrior…yet here we are. Shouldn't judge a book by its cover, is probably the moral of that story. As one, we advance on the building I suggested, Shepard taking cover on one side of the doorway, Ash taking the other. The Commander nods to Ash, and as one they silently step into the building, checking the room visible to them with respective pistol and assault rifle. Shepard beckons for the rest of us to come in, apparently satisfied the area's clear.

That said, there is a big line of what look like containers or something blocking the view into the walkway in front of us…I wouldn't be surprised if there was a geth or two waiting for us around there, and Shepard clearly wouldn't either, hence why she's not talking and keeping stealthy. I find myself at the front of the group as we move forward, rounding the corner…

I take a few hurried steps back as I do so, catching sight of a geth with its back thankfully turned. Shit, that gave me a shock! Ash immediately lines the sight on her assault rifle up, but I quickly shake my head at her, reaching for my knife. Bullets are going to give it time to get to cover before its shields go down, but a knife is just going to ignore them. Plus, we should keep the element of surprise if any more of them are waiting for us…

Shepard looks unsure for a few seconds, then nods to me. Alright, here goes nothing…I slowly advance towards the geth, knife in hand, carefully taking each step closer and closer. I could slit its throat…but would that actually work on a geth? Maybe just ramming the knife through its head will work better, but then again how thick are their skulls, or whatever? Shit, I really didn't think this through…maybe I should have asked Tali what the best way to kill a geth with a knife is, but too late now!

Only about a metre left, and I raise the knife, deciding on the head stab being the best option. I muster up the courage, checking I've got the angle right…when suddenly my eyes begin to water, and my nose starts the sensation that signals…oh fuck, I'm going to sneeze! Not now! I quickly raise my free hand to my nose, clenching it shut to try and repress the sneeze. It almost works…but a tiny noise escapes.

Unfortunately, for a geth a tiny noise is more than sufficient to detect my presence.

It whirls around, opening fire with the assault rifle at me. I leap forward, knife drawn back, grabbing the geth by its shoulder and pushing it down with my left hand, while driving forward with the knife in my right. The geth gets three shots on my shields…but through sheer luck, I manage to ram the knife through straight through its flashlight head. Said light flickers for a few seconds as the geth flails about, then dies as the geth lies still. I collapse backwards off it, breathing heavily through a mixture of shock, effort and pain from where the shots hit me. Even with shields, getting shot from that range is going to leave some bruises. My chest stings slightly as I roll back onto my feet…but Ash is watching me, looking fairly amused, so I don't make anything of it. She's already got far too much ammunition to take the piss out of me, to be honest…

"Nicely done," Shepard smiles, walking past me and pressing the button to release the gate controls. "You've certainly got a flair for the dramatic, don't you?"

"You know me, Shepard, style as well as substance."

"Weren't too stylish when I was kicking your ass," Ash grins, far too happily. I glare at her again, dusting off my armour. I wonder if she's ever going to let that go…I'm really hoping the answer's yes.

"I'm going to get you back sometime," I reply, as we jog back out the building towards the Mako. "You beat me after I'd had an operation with anaesthetic, and with a bit of practice I reckon I've got a pretty good chance."

"Keep dreaming, Ian," she says, casually, as we all settle back into our seats and I hope back into the gunning area. Grrrr…that's it, I don't care how long or hard I have to train, beating Ash in a sparring match is now my resolution for our time on the Normandy!

"Stay focused back there," Shepard lightly chastises us as we pull away again. "We're not there yet, and I need Ian shooting straight if any geth come up again."

"That's a polite way of saying shut up, Ash," I point out. The Chief glares up at me, looking set on some kind of comeback.

"Why don't you come down here and say that to me yourself, you -" I quickly fire the cannon at some geth in the distance, drowning out the long string of insults Ash most likely launched into. And I thought travelling with Wrex was bad…

#########

Boom, boom, boom. Another geth gets blown to smithereens by the cannon as we speed away from what I seriously hope is the final outpost. The sound of the cannon has pretty much become the soundtrack of the entire mission here, and I'm quickly losing count of how many geth I've killed using it. My trigger finger is literally beginning to ache from shooting, and it almost feels unfair using the Mako.

The troopers stand literally no chance as we blow them up and run them over relentlessly, poor bastards. Shepard drives us down the enclosed corridor we drive into as quickly as possible, not even stopping to let me aim at the geth we drive past. I get a few lucky shots in and strafe them with machine gun fire…but quite frankly, I think the Commander's getting bored, and I am a bit as well. It's bizarre, but there's something about the thrill of an on foot battle that I'm actually missing…Shepard hurtles down the ramp, then suddenly brakes to a sudden halt with a loud yell. I quickly pan around the area with the turret, but see no enemies…and the massive river of lava standing between us and the entry point to the next area. Said entry point is too small for the Mako to fit through, which I'm almost feeling grateful for, but getting to it is another matter entirely…

"No way the Mako can jump that," Shepard gasps, immediately ruling out the one solution I had in mind. "Everyone out, see what we can do here." At those words, we all pile out of the Mako, a few grimaces from the human crewmembers as we all stretch our legs from being cooped up in the Mako for so long. Tali stretches out as we all head to the edge of the pathway, surveying the distance to the other side. That's got to be around ten or so metres to the other side, possibly more…Shepard's right, I don't think the Mako could make that jump, and I really don't want to be inside it if she feels like checking.

"We need some kind of bridge to cross this," Tali observes. "I'm guessing nobody thought to bring one, right?"

"Damn…" Shepard curses. "There's got to be another way around. Maybe a different walkway or something?" I survey the lava before us again, frantically thinking away. Even if we did some kind of stupid jump where Kaidan or somebody boosts the lightest squad member across the gap, they still probably wouldn't make it…and then the rest of us would be screwed. Tali's bridge idea is nagging away at my mind, but we've got nothing to make a bridge with! Where the hell are we going to find something at least eight metres long that's going to float long enough for us to make it across?

Oh. I've just had an idea…

I slowly turn around to face Shepard, who's glaring at the lava intently, as if trying to move it with her mind. "Shepard, I might have an idea."

"What?" she says quickly, looking at me immediately. "Is it going to work?"

"I don't see why not," I grimace, glancing over at the Mako. "Though something tells me the Alliance aren't going to like it. How long is that Mako?"

**A/N: Just to reiterate…I HATE THERUM! The next chapters should be more exciting than this, since on foot sections are always good like that. Will Ian's crazy plan work? Even bigger question, will Liara be tripping out from the wait for us to arrive? Find out next time! **

**Of course, Happy Thanksgiving to all the American readers. You lucky sods get a holiday, while I still have to go to school and stuff (grumbles.) But seriously, hope it went nice for all of you :-)**

**Alright, until next time!**


	14. Ian vs The Crossing

Chapter 14

Biffy Clyro: Saturday Superhouse

**A/N: Alright, we're back with more Therum antics! One quick point I need to address before we start…I'm not trying to make Ash out like she's evil or anything. It's just a bit of rivalry between Ian and Ash, not like she being malevolent or anything. 'Xeno-cautious', as justsomebody2 said.**

**Now that's out of the way, chapter go!**

"You know," Tali says, as we all begin to push the Mako towards the lava stream, "I'm a little worried this might not work. Actually, scratch that, I'm worried quite a bit."

"If you've got an alternative solution," I grunt, throwing my back into pushing the vehicle, "I'd love to hear it." Though to be honest, I'm actually amazed we're trying this, even though I came up with the idea. Apparently the Mako we have is around six or seven metres long, and the range finder on Ash's assault rifle measures the gap at ten metres, give or take a few centimetres. So, theoretically, we can drop the Mako in the lava, jump onto the roof, run along then leap the last three or so metres to safety. Though to be honest, a lot hinges on theory there.

"I'm not saying that, but a few things concern me a little," Tali replies. "If the shields on the Mako fail too early, it's likely to explode beneath our feet. It could sink. One of us could slip while jumping and not make it. All of which result in death."

"You're not big on the power of positive thinking, are you?" I mutter back. Tali chuckles a little bit, but there's still a concerned edge to it. "I know it's not perfect, but we may as well give it a go? What've we got to lose?"

"Our lives, kid," Kaidan interjects. "And a Mako, if we make it out. These things don't grow on trees, you know? This is the taxpayer's money going up in flames, almost literally."

"It's dying a noble death, Kaidan, sacrificing itself for our success," I counter. "I think the taxpayer can deal with that."

Shepard throws her hat into the ring now, as we bring the Mako just up to the edge and all of us stop pushing. "Like it or not, it's the best plan we've got."

"It's the only plan we've got," Ash points out.

"Be that as it may, it should still work," Shepard nods. "The Mako's shields can give us enough time to cross and get clear. I'm pretty confident everyone here can jump three metres, so we'll be fine. It's crazy, but it just might work."

Ash folds her arms, Tali puts her hands on her hips, and Kaidan raises an eyebrow.

"Nice to see everyone's so confident," I sigh, getting ready to push the Mako the last few centimetres. "I'll go first, alright? That way, if anyone dies, it's the idiot who came up with the plan."

Ash nods. "Suits me." Everyone turns to look at her. "What?" she asks, looking and sounding surprised. "I can't make a joke?"

"Everyone get ready to push," Shepard says, shaking her head. "And as soon as it hits the lava, move."

"Hold your breath, as well," I add quickly, as I get a sudden whiff of the sulphur coming from the lava. "Last thing we want is someone asphyxiating halfway across. Tali, you probably shouldn't have to worry about that," I wink. The quarian gives me a light punch on the arm for my troubles, as we all head back to the Mako. One good shove should tip it…so probably best to act fast. God, I really hope I don't slip when I get on top of it…

"On my mark," Shepard says, tensing her back against the Mako. "Three, two, one…" I ready my legs against the ground. "Push!" There's groans of effort from the majority of the crew as we all drive the Mako back as hard as we can. The front two wheels go over the edge…and momentum is just going to take it the rest of the way. Time to move!

The Mako crashes into the lava, sending a spray of lava up around it. I'm standing right next to the lava, so it's a minor miracle I don't get hit by any of it. No time to reflect on my good fortune, though, as the Mako is actually beginning to sink fairly rapidly…

"Ian, what the hell are you waiting for?" Shepard yells. "Go!"

I don't even think about how crazy what I'm doing is, managing the simple jump onto the Mako's roof and using the seven metres available to me to build up as much momentum as I can. Three steps, I'm almost at the edge…I push off the fourth one, sailing through the air and going much further than necessary, landing at least two metres clear of where I needed to. I slide to a halt, then dash back to the edge to help anyone who needs it.

Ash clears the jump easily too, as does Kaidan following behind. Shepard hops onto the Mako…but it's beginning to sink really fast now, and the visible parts are beginning to catch fire. The Commander still manages the jump fairly simply, but as Tali boards, the Mako's only about thirty centimetres above the lava. Shit, she's not going to be able to make it all the way across…Tali reaches about halfway, but the lava's almost touching her feet. No way she's going to make it to the edge…

"Tali!" I yell. "Jump!"

The quarian does exactly that, hurling herself through space. It's got to be about a five metre jump…time seems to slow as I watch her leap, unable to do anything more than judge her trajectory. Then, with a jolt, normal time resumes as the front of her feet land just on the edge of the safety zone. She teeters back, but I lunge out and grab her hand, pulling her back in. By this time, the only visible part of the Mako is up in flames…and I imagine the fuel in it isn't going to react too well to that.

Shit.

"Everyone, run!" Shepard shouts, clearly coming to the same conclusion as I have. I give Tali a push forward, sprinting after her…making it about five metres before an explosion knocks all of us off our feet and sends us flying. I hear Kaidan yell as I'm flying through the air…then my head cracks against the floor as I land. My head immediately explodes with pain, and my sight turns a fiery orange as the vision begins to flare up. I can still see the real world around me, but I keep getting little images flashes as I try to look around, and my vision remains oddly discoloured…every image bringing on a fresh wave of pain.

"Ian?" Ash's face suddenly appears in front of me, looking concerned. The tint in my vision gradually dies away as she grabs me by the shoulders and shakes, and the images recede as well. "Come on, snap out of it!" I shake my head vigorously, clearing my head and staggering back to my feet.

"Snap out of what?" I ask, suspiciously. Shit, what if she can tell I'm having visions?

"You were in a daze," she explains, "didn't want you losing consciousness on us." I look behind her, where Shepard, Tali and Kaidan are standing up themselves, the Lieutenant clutching at his head. My ears are still ringing from the explosion, and I'm feeling Kaidan's pain as well… "What you lack in combat, you make up for with tactics, it seems," Ash nods approvingly. "That worked better than I expected."

"Better?" I groan. "If that's better, what the hell were you expecting?"

"Death," Ash says simply, then walks off back to the rest of the squad. I grit my teeth and follow her, making sure all my weapons are still safe. Both pistols still in place, sniper rifle on my back, grenades in place…looks like I'm good to go! Though the fact the vision flares up whenever I take a blow to the head is concerning me…as is the fact it's beginning to cross over into my real life now, rather than just when I'm unconscious. I wish I had some way of getting in touch with Shiara, but she didn't really leave any contact details…

"Good plan, Ian," Shepard smiles, as I approach. "I'd rather not have lost the Mako, but at least we're here." She gestures at the narrow hill leading towards Liara's location. "It goes without saying we're looking at geth resistance up here, but from the looks of things so far we've got an open battleground. Ian, Ash, take up sniping positions where you can and cover the rest of us. We've got an advantage at long range, and I want to use it. Everyone good?" We all nod, firmly. She's so unflappable, even when a Mako just blew up behind us less than a minute ago…and always seems to have the right tactics for the situation. It's even more obvious why the Illusive Man spent so much money brining her back, now I'm actually working with her for real…

"Then let's go," she nods, jogging up the hill, pistol drawn. Tali sidles over to me as we run, shotgun out and ready.

"Thanks," she says, sounding a little shy. "For saving me. Again."

"Makes a change from someone saving my ass," I chuckle. "No problem. Though I thought you were supposed to be the one looking out for me?"

"If you're going to take that attitude, I'll just let you fall into the lava if the roles get reversed," she says, jokingly. "Seriously, though, I owe you."

"Tali, if you owe someone something every time they save your life in this business, I'm horribly in debt to Garrus. I'm sure you'll have helped me out trouble plenty of times before all this is over with Saren. Forget about it."

"Okay," she says, as Shepard brings up her fist for us to hold. "But only because you're insisting." I shake my head as Shepard turns to address us. With Garrus, we helped each other out, then moved on. Sure, there was the occasional nod of thanks or whatever, but Tali's whole attitude to it is…kind of sweet, actually. Especially compared to Garrus, but that wasn't ever going to be too much of a challenge.

"I hear geth up ahead," Shepard whispers, reaching for a grenade. "Behind that fallen rock." Without waiting for any of us to react to her words, she simply lobs the grenade over, waits a second for it to land, then detonates. There's a fairly big explosion, followed by two destroyed geth sent flying by the blast. Kaidan nods approvingly, and I join in. That was actually a pretty impressive throw…she's the boss for a reason!

"They were probably just scouts," Ash observes. "We can expect more up ahead. Guaranteed."

"Agreed," I nod. "Hopefully we'll have a sniping position." Annoyingly, all I actually remember of this mission outside of Liara's location is one section with a geth in a watchtower or something…I'm really beginning to wish I played Mass Effect 1 more often! We head up to the top of the hill…and true to form, there's the watchtower! Fantastic, from here on in I've got no idea what's going to happen!

Awesome!

Ash and I run to the first bit of cover available, while the rest of the squad find positions further up. The Chief turns her head quickly to look at me, as both of us grab our rifles. "Hope you shoot better than you punch," she winks, then leans out to take a shot at one geth out in the open. Oh, she's just _trying _to piss me off now! If it's a rivalry she wants…

"Hope your aim's better than your insults," I counter, looking over the top of the rock we're sheltered behind, lining my scope up with the geth sniper in the watchtower…and nailing it with a headshot. I'm actually getting pretty good with this thing…

"Nice one," Ash mutters, plugging another geth before I can turn my attention to it. "I'm getting the impression you're finding me a bit annoying, Ian."

I momentarily take my eye off the battle to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Really? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"If there's something you want to get out into the open," she replies, grunting a little as the recoil of the rifle impacts her shoulder, "feel free to say it now. What's so infuriating?"

"Oh, nothing. Except your constant mocking," I shoot a geth in the head, rising annoyance actually helping my aim. "Your incessant xenophobia towards Tali and the others doesn't help, either," Another geth goes down from one of my shots.

"So I don't trust aliens, and make a joke once in a while. You must find a lot of people annoying, Ian."

"Nah, it's just you, actually."

Ash dispatches the last geth standing, as Shepard and co. finish wreaking havoc on the ones we missed, then lowers her rifle and turns to look at me. "Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch. The insults are just meant to be a bit of fun, which hasn't worked," she says, smiling apologetically.

"I know," I sigh. "But come on, Ash, you're not making it easy for me. You've been a soldier for a while, I'm new to this whole thing. So I'd appreciate help, rather than putdowns."

"Alright," she nods, grinning. "I'll try to keep them to a minimum. Not saying it's going to stop, though."

"That would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?" I chuckle. Ash laughs too, and we stand silently in the temporary lull of battle. Normally this kind of thing would feel awkward, but now it just seems…right.

"Friends?" I finally ask, reaching out a hand for her to shake. Who knew shooting geth would bring two people closer together…but this actually seems to have worked wonders for us! I was never really keen on Ash, in-game or here in real life…but if she's actually going to put the effort in, the least I can do is return the favour.

"Friends," she replies, firmly, shaking my hand.

"_Hurry it up back there," _Shepard's voice says through my earpiece. _"Dr. T'Soni isn't going to recruit herself."_

"Roger that Shepard, on our way," Ash responds quickly, motioning for me to follow her as she jogs back to where the Commander's standing.

"The xenophobia thing," I ask quickly. "Is that just a joke too, or what?"

"I've got my opinions, Ian," she simply replies. "Think what you like, I'll stick with my views. Alright?" I just nod, leaving it for now. I'm sure talking to Shepard might change her mind…and just because I'm dropping it now, doesn't mean I won't bring it back up on the Normandy. Whether she's open to change or not, I won't know unless I try. But whatever her views, I think I've made a friend here…albeit not the most stable friendship, I imagine.

##########

We advance up past the watchtower in relative silence, taking a left up a hill in front of us. One geth tries some mad suicide charge to kill one of us, but Tali nails it with a shotgun blast as it runs, causing it to do an ugly backflip and just crumple to the floor. God, that looked so stupid…like it was a ragdoll, rather than an actual machine. I can't help chuckling a little bit, but a stern look from Shepard and the sight up ahead quickly silences me. Looks like some kind of storage facility, three big tanks on the left hand side and a ramp leading into where Liara is on the right…wow, we're here already? I always thought this section took longer, but that's probably because I tried it on the hardest difficulty…

"Looks like this is it," Ash says. "T'Soni's probably in there."

"Sure looks like it," Shepard agrees. "Hopefully it's just going to be a case of going in there and -" A sudden movement from above cuts her off midsentence, as a geth hopper unfolds from the underside of the bridge above us, and starts pinging around the place. Shepard frowns, biotically grabbing the geth and holding it helplessly in the air for us. A quick blitz of fire from our various weapons, and Shepard lets the corpse flop to the floor. Funny, I always had the idea there was some kind of massive resistance aro –

With an enormous crash, a geth armature drops to the ground in front of us, uncurling rapidly from its position. Oh, fuck! I take two quick running steps and dive roll behind cover, drawing both pistols and quickly peeking out. Kaidan and Ash are huddled behind one conveniently placed crate, while Shepard and Tali dash to a fallen rock, firing as they go. I lean out fully now, laying down some covering fire for them. One geth bears the brunt of my shots, quickly losing its shields. Alright, time to see if Tali's omni-tool upgrade works!

I quickly open my omni-tool and loose an Overload at the geth. The results are spectacular. It starts fizzing extremely violently as electricity courses all over it, blue bolts sparking all over its body, then drops to the floor, flashlight head extinguished as the electricity causes its lifeless corpse to spasm. Wow, that was –

An absolutely massive force collides with my chest, sending me flying about five metres back and knocking the wind out of me as I land on my back. A flashing on my omni-tool merrily informs me my shields are completely down, as I look up and see the armature looking directly at me, preparing for another shot. Shit! Just managing to wheeze in some breath, I clumsily roll to the side, just managing to avoid the second shot aimed at where I was lying a second before. Damn it, a Mako would really be useful now!

Kaidan and Ash dispatch the last normal trooper as I rush back to my old cover, this time staying firmly behind it. My chest is still killing from where I took the shot…I seriously owe Laet big time, if he hadn't installed those shield upgrades on my armour I'd have been absolutely screwed there! That said, we're still not out of the woods yet…

"_Its shields are like a brick wall!" _Shepard yells over the radio. _"We need some way of taking them down!"_

"_Theoretically, if some of us were to Overload it simultaneously, the combined force should be able to take down almost any mobile shield unit," _Tali suggests. _"That's the idea, anyway."_

"_Got nothing better to try," _Kaidan grunts over the radio, as I see him barely avoiding a shot from the armature. _"Alright, Tali, Ian, on the count of three give it everything your omni-tool's got!"_ I reach to my arm and start charging the Overload, keeping one eye on the armature, who's busy at the moment trying to kill Ash. Well, rather her than me…

God, that's harsh.

"_Three, two, one, go!" _Kaidan yells. I release the Overload, as do the Lieutenant and Tali, and the electrical field we generate quickly eliminates the armature's shields. And with that, we all unleash bullet hell on the armature. Round after round pours into it, with seemingly no effect. Fuck, where's the Mako cannon when I need it!

"Damn it!" I yell to no-one in particular, as both my pistols overheat. "Tali, there's got to be some other way of taking these down! You know more about geth than the rest of us put together!"

"_The armatures do have a nervous system, wires on the back of their necks to send control impulses…but getting to them is like a suicide mission!"_ I take a deep breath, judging the distance between me and the geth. That's a thirty metre sprint, then I've got to climb up onto it…then again, bullets aren't doing much, and the crew's already had quite a few close calls with shots from it. If someone dies, there's no Unity power to bring them back…and if it's because I was too much of a coward to act, can I live with myself?

"You should have mentioned it earlier," I mutter. "A distraction would be appreciated."

"_Wait!" _Tali protests. _"You can't just -"_

"Keelah se'lai, Tali," I say, then dash out into the open, charging towards the geth, knife in hand. Shepard and the rest of the squad obviously heard the conversation, as they start doing as much as possible to divert attention away from me. Jesus, this is crazy…then again, if this a suicide mission, it's good practice for when Mass Effect 2 rolls around…

The geth fires a shot straight at me, which I barely manage to roll under. Fuck, if I make it to Mass Effect 2! Ten metres left…it's charging a shot, but I've got more than enough time to leap onto one leg, digging my knife in for a handhold. It lets out a synthetic shriek, then starts frantically kicking with the leg I'm attached to. Shit! I barely manage to climb onto its back, then lunge for the neck with my knife at the exposed wires Tali mentioned, frantically slashing at them with the knife. One cut frays them, the second exposes the main core of the wire…but before I can geth the third slice in, the geth bucks wildly, knocking me to the side and almost clean off the leg!

I just catch a hold of one part of its exoskeleton, heaving myself back onto the unstable surface and advancing carefully towards the wire, reaching back with one arm to put the final blow in…and drive the knife through the wire with a yell. The geth properly screams this time, a horrible sound that drives straight through me, and bucks wildly in its death throes. My tired arms completely fail me this time, sending me hurtling into the air…and towards one of the tanks off to the side of the battlefield.

Fuck, this is going to _wreck._

My back impacts first, leaving a dent in the tank as I bounce off and hit the floor hard, no breath left in me to be knocked out. My vision's gone all blurry, my spine's aching and even just breathing hurts…but through it all, I'm still getting an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

Damn, if only Wrex was here to have seen that.

#########

"Are you out of your mind?" Tali asks incredulously, storming over as Kaidan and Ash help me to my feet.

"Probably," Ash mutters, as Kaidan applies some medi-gel to where I'm bleeding a bit from a crack I took to the head. Ah, that's better…medi-gel has got to be the best thing since sliced bread. For sure.

"I took a risk, Tali," I sigh, clutching at my still aching chest. It should go in a few minutes, but that doesn't make it hurt any less at the moment… "We weren't getting far by just shooting, and every second that went by the closer one of us got to taking a lethal hit. Someone had to do something."

"You could have been killed easily!" Tali retorts. "Then what? We'd have been in exactly the same position, with one squad member less."

"But that didn't happen, did it?" Shepard asks rhetorically, striding into the conversation. "Crazy move, Ian, but impressive," she says approvingly. "Make sure you get that in your report, Kaidan."

The Lieutenant nods, smiling. "I think I'll use your quote word for word." Actually, is that a good thing? Don't want the Alliance thinking I'm insane or something…

"Look, though, you're hurt!" Tali points out. Can't disagree with her there, I suppose… "If we'd been patient and just shot it down, maybe this wouldn't have happened!"

"Like I said," I repeat patiently, "someone had to do something. The longer we waited, the more likely someone slipped up and got shot by that thing. Besides, I'm not even hurt that bad. My strength is pain, and I will never give in."

Ash, Kaidan and Shepard give me a weird look.

"Just quoting song lyrics there," I explain quickly. That probably made me sound a bit weird… "We take risks, Tali, that's what this job's about."

"He's right," Shepard agrees. "If you want to, we can talk about this later. But right now, we've got a rescue mission to complete, if people don't mind." We all nod firmly, and Shepard starts to walk towards the entrance into the underground base, Kaidan and Ash close behind. I move to follow them, but Tali quickly catches my arm before I can.

"What if one day, the risk doesn't pay off?" she says, coldly. "Think about that." And with those words, she storms off after the rest of the squad, and the feeling of accomplishment I had before dies in my chest. I acted to protect the squad…but even then, I've ended up hurting one of them myself. Did the risk really pay off?

"It didn't," I whisper.

**A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter, but it felt appropriate to end it there. So, Tali is annoyed at Ian…for reasons that will be delved into once we get back onto the Normandy. Make one friend, piss off another…**

**So, next chapter will obviously have Liara's debut, and maybe even the end of Therum. It's not exactly a long mission, and I don't like it, so I really don't have any issues with just getting it done and moving on…**

**On a brighter note, 250 reviews! Well over that, actually, but that's another landmark number down, and once again I've got you readers to thank for the amazing feedback. Fanfic readers are some of the best fans in the world, it would seem. (There's a surprise.)**

**See you next chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	15. Ian vs The Seismic Event

Chapter 15

Wolfmother: Sundial

"That's…a huge shaft," Kaidan says disbelievingly, as we head through the ridiculously oversized doorway leading to the heart of the dig site.

"That's…what she said," I add, unable to stop the words. Fortunately, Ash and Shepard laugh, while Tali just looks at me, arms folded. Christ, if trademark bad jokes aren't going to lighten the mood with her I don't know what will…though in hindsight that probably wasn't the best thing to say when the majority of the squad's female.

Shepard shakes her head as we all walk down the hill, smiling slightly. "That's just inappropriate, Ian. I should reprimand you for that."

"I'll give him a slap if you want for being sexist, Commander," Ash grins, taking a menacing step towards me.

"I thought we were friends, Ash, that's just uncalled for," I say, doing my best to sound hurt. "It's not even sexist. Innuendo's priceless."

The looks I'm getting from the rest of the squad suggest that might not be the case.

"Screw you, that was funny," I sigh, as we continue trudging down. The place does look a bit trippy, to be fair, blue ringed lights every few metres as we walk…got to love the future.

"I must be missing the point of human humour, then," Tali comments dryly, raising a smile from the rest of the squad. Ooh, snap. I consider going for the comeback, but then again Tali's already pissed off with me, so no point making it worse. Even for comedy value.

The corridor continues on for a long way, and we press forwards in relative silence, save for the sounds of us breathing and my occasional groan when my back pain flares up. It'll have got me plenty of badass points, killing that geth, but it really bloody hurt…and it pissed of Tali. I glance over at the quarian, who thankfully isn't looking at me. What the hell's up with her, anyway? I help the squad and get the cold shoulder in return…hopefully, she'll explain it back on the Normandy. We were becoming really good friends, as well…

The sound of a sniper shot from Ash draws my thoughts back to the world around me rather forcefully, as a geth waiting for us at the bottom of the tunnel falls to the floor. Fuck, I really need to remember I'm still in the middle of a battlefield…

"Well spotted," Shepard compliments her. "Looks like the geth managed to get down here as well, joy of joys. Weapons up." I draw both pistols, and there's the reassuring sound of magnetic strips releasing weapons around me. We're nothing if not prepared…for good reason, as more geth start firing at us from below when we reach the bottom of the tunnel and head onto the walkway. I fire at both, using for one pistol for each one respectively, quickly knocking down shields for Tali to shotgun one, and Kaidan to Overload the other. After killing an armature, the troopers seem comparatively tame…

"Nice shot," I smile at Tali, but she just nods stiffly then heads off after Shepard. Fuck it, she's not in the mood for an apology now. I'll let her sulk for a bit, then see what's really up after the mission. Provided she's still talking to me then.

"Wow…" Ash mutters as we continue forwards, cautiously. "This place is massive. They must have been putting in some serious work and resources here."

"No wonder it attracted all this attention, then," Shepard says. "It is a Prothean dig site, though, and they made everything big. Mass Relays, the Citadel…not exactly renowned for their more subtle creations."

Kaidan nods. "Good point, Shepard." Heh, sucking up to the Commander…

"Then it's probably not going to be easy to find Dr. T'Soni," I point out. "Unless this walkway just leads us straight to her." Actually, I think it might actually do just that…

"Well, fingers crossed," Shepard replies briskly, glancing over the edge of the balcony we're on. "Wait, there's an elevator over there! Maybe that'll lead us to her."

"Like you said, fingers crossed," I mutter, as we all break into a jog towards it. A line of what looks like blue forcefields stretches all the way down to the ground…and that's a significant distance. The Protheans might have known a lot about technology, but their architecture leaves a lot to be desired…we pile into the elevator, it's door slamming shut with a loud crash as Shepard presses the button to make us descend. Yep, still not getting a good vibe from this place, at all. Don't even have Garrus here to crack some joke about it either! I stare out the elevator's window…and see something metallic and floating hovering around below us. Oh, great, more enemies.

"I spy with my little eye," I say, reaching and grabbing my sniper rifle, "something beginning with 'g'."

"Git?" Tali asks. "Because I can see one right in front of me."

"Good effort, Tali, but I was thinking of something different." I point down the elevator shaft, and Shepard rushes over to look at the rapidly approaching drones. We've probably got about ten seconds to get a few pre-emptive shots on…which Shepard does immediately, whipping out her pistol and firing at them. I lift the scope up to my eye…but Christ, aiming in a moving elevator is tricky! I manage to level the scope on one of the geth…but a sudden jolt from the elevator sends the shot hopelessly wide.

Damn…I pull back the bolt on the rifle, prepping another shot. This time I don't hesitate, scoring a glancing hit to the side of the drone which sends its shields down. With impeccable timing, the elevator finally touches down and the door rushes up, letting all of us run out, weapons firing. I quickly holster the rifle and get out one pistol, landing a shot on the drone I'd started on…but Tali knocks it flying out of the air with a well placed shotgun blast. Well, that was a blatant killsteal…but I think I'll let it slide with Tali, considering her mood and that the competition doesn't even count on this mission, because Garrus and Wrex aren't present. Which sucks, because I actually think I'm doing quite well…

"I think we got 'em," Ash smiles cockily, placing her assault rifle on her back. "I thought the geth might put up more of a fight than this."

"Don't say that," I groan, as we head for a second elevator. "We thought that back on Feros, and ended up knee-deep in zombies and mutated plants. Tempting fate is bad, m'kay?"

"Paranoid, kid?" Kaidan grins, as we enter the elevator and begin to descend. Thankfully, I can't see any geth this time.

"Always," I reply. "Better paranoid than dead, I always say."

Shepard raises an eyebrow. "When have you ever said that?"

…

"Shut up."

Suddenly, sparks start to fly on the sides of the elevator as it begins to grind to an unexpected halt, jolting the floor underneath and sending me sprawling to the floor. Fuck, why can I not remember any of this mission until it's way too late! The shaking and sparks continue for five or so seconds, until the elevator finally stops just above another walkway.

"You see?" I sigh, reaching my hands back behind my shoulders and springing back up. "Paranoid for a reason." I head to the elevator door, looking down at the drop to the walkway. Not high at all…I carefully hop down, rolling on the landing. Had much worse falls than that doing parkour on the Citadel…

"Erm…help?" A familiar feminine voice nearby says, causing me to whirl around…and look straight at Liara T'Soni, suspended in the Prothean energy field. She looks almost exactly how I was expecting…except the fear in her eyes can't be replicated by any graphics engine. God, I wonder how long she's actually been trapped here…but on the bright side, she seems sane.

"Dr. T'Soni?" I ask, carefully approaching the energy field as I hear the rest of the squad begin to jump down. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she says, sounding a bit uncertain. "Are you…are you real?"

Fuck, there goes the sanity.

"No, don't be stupid Liara, humans do not come down here," she mutters to herself. "You're hallucinating, clearly."

"Er…Liara, you're not hallucinating," I say, pretty much at a loss for what to do now. We didn't even leave her until last, why the hell is she hallucinating!

"And now I'm talking to myself," she continues, laughing nervously. "Oh, Goddess, I'm going to die here!"

"Liara!" I shout. "Chill out! I'm real, there's a squad behind me, we're here to rescue you!"

"You're a bit loud for a hallucination…" she mutters. Jesus, this is going to be a fun conversation. "But that's probably because I'm getting progressively more crazy."

"My boss is a Spectre, who should be arriving _any second now!_" I raise my voice for the last bit to try and prompt Shepard to hurry it up. "You're not crazy. And even if you hypothetically were, I'm still real."

"That's reassuring," she smiles a little. "A Spectre's good. Though it makes sense, I would conjure up someone or something powerful to help, a protector figure…" I faceplam as she continues to ramble on. "Well, I'll play along, considering I'm trapped here. Have to pass the time somehow." Shepard and the rest of the squad finally jump down next to me, much to Liara's shock.

"Wow, I must be going crazy!" she cries. "This is much more lucid than normal!"

Shepard looks over to me, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"Later," I reply quickly. "Look, Liara, can you tell us how to get you out of here? Actually, how the hell did you get in there? That might help us as well."

The asari smiles knowingly. "Of course, the figment of my imagination wants me to retrace my steps, work out where I went wrong." The whole squad looks at me now, confusion written across their faces.

"What?" I ask. "I didn't do this to her!"

"I was exploring the ruins when the geth arrived," Liara says, ignoring us. "I ran in here and activated the defences, but I must have touched something I shouldn't have. It trapped me in here, and now I'm stuck! As for how to get me out, if you're even real, you'll need to find a way past the barrier curtain, then use the control panel to release me. If you're not real, then please, leave. I don't want to talk to myself anymore."

"We're coming for you, Liara," I say, doing my best to be reassuring. "Just sit tight!"

"It's not like I have much of a choice," she comments dryly, as Shepard and the rest of us retreat out of her line of sight.

"Right. Care to explain what _that _was all about?" Shepard asks incredulously.

I shake my head. "Looks like she got stuck there by accident, but she's been held here so long she thinks she's going insane." Kaidan and Ash both look bemused. "But she did tell us how to get her out of there."

"I noticed," Shepard says. "Get past the barrier, then use a control panel to free her. She didn't say how to get past the shield, did she?"

"Nope," I reply. "I really don't think there's that much point asking, anyway. We could always try hacking it…"

"Not likely," Tali says, shooting my idea down straight away. "If the geth couldn't hack past it, we don't stand much chance. And even if we had the technology, it might take days to get through."

Shepard sighs, rising back up to her feet. "Then we'll just have to search for some other way past. Keep an eye out for geth as we go." With that, the Commander's away, jogging forward with her pistol drawn. The rest of us exchange glances, then head off after her. She waits for nothing, it would seem…

The Commander hurls herself out of the way of a hail of gunfire, as five or so geth appear from below us and start firing at her. Shit, this place is crawling with synthetics! I unclip a grenade and lob it down, but it's an appalling throw and I just clip one geth with the explosion. That's something I need to work on…

The impact of fire against my rifle sends me diving to the floor, as the shield reading on my omni-tool beeps while I take fire. Down to 30%...but lying prone on the walkway is protecting me quite a bit.

"_We need to get to the ground floor, more cover there!" _Shepard shouts over the radio. _"Everyone push forward!" _Perfect timing! My shields begin to recharge just as Shepard finishes talking, and I take a quick glance up. The drop over the banister's only a little over four metres…so either I get shot up here, or risk breaking my legs jumping down. Why does it always seem to come down to certain death or just probable death…

I spring up, dashing for the rail and doing a one handed vault over, pistol clutched tightly in my other. I get three shots off as I fall, one hitting the intended target, then roll behind a fallen rock out of the landing. That must have looked good…too bad real life doesn't have stylish points!

There's a boom from Tali's shotgun somewhere nearby, and a geth comes flying past my cover, hole torn through its chest. Almost makes me wish I had a shotgun…I lean out and fire quickly on a geth temporarily disabled by an Overload from Kaidan, taking it down in a matter of seconds. I fire these things _way _too quick…almost matching assault rifle speed, though it sacrifices accuracy a bit. The readout on them both shows a near overheat as I get back behind the rock. I might need some pistols with a better cooling system…too bad I spent all my credits on Dragon armour!

Shepard strides out from where she's crouching, casting one arm out in front of her and crippling a geth against a wall. A sniper leans out to take a shot at her...but Ash fires first, hitting its arm and sending its aim jolting off to the side. The geth still manages to fire, though, and there's a groan from Kaidan as it does so.

"Shit, Kaidan!" I yell, dashing out of cover and over to the fallen Lieutenant while Ash and Shepard finish off the sniper. Kaidan's on his back, coughing as he clutches at part of his chest. He's still alive, which is a good start…but he looks like he's in a lot of pain. Gently, I take his hand away from where he's covering the wound…wincing a bit as I see it. That's torn a nasty hole in his side…but it doesn't look like anything major's been damaged, thank God.

"Come on, Kaidan," I say softly and reassuringly, reaching for the medi-gel. Being treated by C-Sec so often has given me a fairly good idea of how to talk to someone injured, and first aid training from Rebecca means I know my way around a wound or two… "It's just a flesh wound, mate." I apply the medi-gel, which works immediately, and Kaidan's pained expression becomes slightly gentler as it cools the affected area.

"I've got a bandage for the wound," Shepard says, kneeling next to me and getting to work on where Kaidan's hurt. Good thing that geth was the last troop…I wouldn't want to try doing this in the middle of a battle! It doesn't take long for Shepard to apply the dressing, and we slowly help Kaidan back to his feet.

"That should sort you until we get back to the Normandy," Shepard smiles, but there's a worried edge to her voice. "If we get in a fight, you go straight to cover and stay there, alright? Ian, you stay with him and protect him." I nod firmly. It's annoying getting saddled with the escort mission…but Kaidan's been good to me the whole time I've been on the ship, so I suppose I owe him back.

"Sorry to burden myself on you, kid," he grunts, as Shepard begins to inspect the mining laser. Oh yeah, that's how we get through…

"It's alright," I reply. "We're all here to look out for each other, right? Besides, if you die, I'll never get to hear that story you've got for me."

"Oh, it's not that big a deal," he chuckles, as Shepard presses a button on the laser. A look of alarm crosses her face as she does, then the Commander begins frantically mashing buttons on the control panel. Haha, I remember that bit… "It was a pretty crazy mission, though, just four of us going after batarian slavers with communications shut down…"

"Hey, don't ruin it!" I protest. "Save it for back on the Normandy." With a smile of triumph on her face, Shepard presses the final button that starts up the laser and blasts the way forward for us. "Come on," I grunt, heaving Kaidan up. "Time to get Dr. T'Soni and get the hell out of here."

##########

It didn't take long for us to ride the weird Prothean elevator up to Liara, but much to my annoyance Shepard insisted I be the one to talk to Liara, because we've 'already know each other.' The only thing I know about Liara's personality at the moment is that she's crazy, but whatever!

"Oh, it's you again," Liara says drowsily as I approach. "Now I'm hallucinating you're inside the tower. Recurring characters, I must truly be mad now…I thought I heard thunder before."

"That was us using a mining laser to bore through," I say patiently. She has to snap out of it soon…

"Goddess, you're real!" she gasps. Finally!

"Jackpot," I grin. "How long were you in here for?"

"I lost track of time…" she mutters. "I'm sorry, I thought you were a hallucination!"

"I know," I reply, a little more sarcastically than I mean to. "Don't worry about it. How exactly do we get you out, now we're here?"

"There's a control panel near you," she says frantically. "The controls are there!" Shepard hurries over and taps a few buttons on it, and sure enough Liara falls to the ground in front of me, energy field holding her disabled.

"You alright?" I ask, helping her up to her feet. Liara smiles, still looking a little surprised.

"I'm fine," she nods. "So, is there really a Spectre with you?"

"That would be me," Shepard says briskly, stepping forwards. "Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Any idea how we get out of here?" Just brushed aside as soon as the Spectre comes into the conversation…she has a way of stealing the spotlight, though it's probably justified.

Liara nods. "There's an elevator behind us, in the centre of the tower. I think it's an elevator, anyway. It should take us out of here, but we should leave before more geth arrive!"

"My thoughts exactly," Shepard nods. "Double time back to the elevator, everyone!" We all run back to the central console, and thankfully Kaidan manages to keep up, despite his injuries. If this all ends how I remember, he's gonna have to be able to run…

"I still can't believe all this…" Liara says, putting a hand on her head while Tali begins using the control panel and activates the lift. "Why would geth come for me? Is Benezia involved?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ash snaps, catching us all by surprise. "He's looking for the Conduit, Prothean technology. Think fast, Miss Prothean Expert!" That's her exact line from the game, word for word…and I thought she wasn't going to be as xenophobic! Damn it!

"Hey!" Shepard shoots back at the Chief. "Watch it!" She turns back to Liara, looking a bit annoyed. "Sorry, Liara."

"It's fine," Liara replies shakily, obviously taken aback by Ash's outburst. T'Soni never was the most socially adept person, though, so it's understandable that came as a shock to her… "The Conduit, though, I don't know what- " The sound of huge crashes from all around, though quiet and slightly muffled, make us all look up and reach for our weapons. I take a step closer to Kaidan, looking around frantically. Don't want him getting hurt any more than he already is…

"Keelah, what was that?" Tali asks, stepping away from the console and slowly reaching for her shotgun.

"These ruins are unstable," Liara explains. "That mining laser must have triggered a seismic event!" Oh, shit! I knew it was coming but it still sucks to hear! "We have to get out of here, now!"

"Joker!" Shepard says frantically. "Lock onto my signal and get the Normandy over here, now! Stop for nothing!"

"_Roger that, Commander, on our way, ETA eight minutes," _Joker says, then the line goes dead.

"Eight minutes? That's cutting a bit fine!" I say, unable to help the worry in my voice. This shit ain't gonna be fun, I can guarantee it…

"We'll make it," Shepard replies, firmly. "Joker won't let us down." With that, the elevator speeds upwards as Liara enters the relevant command. It's a tense wait as we move up, the sound of destruction reverberating around us, but fortunately it only take twenty seconds or so. What isn't so fortunate is the sight that greets us once we make it to the top.

Three geth running towards us…and behind them, one yellow skinned krogan pounding forwards. My hands go for my pistols, but Shepard holds out one hand slightly. Looks like she wants to talk…I, on the other hand, am getting prepared for an almighty rumble.

"Surrender," the krogan grunts, smiling. "Or don't. That would be more entertaining."

"If it's entertainment you want, you came to the right place," Shepard growls, taking a step forward. "If you're more concerned about living, though, this would be a good time to leave. This place is falling apart around us."

"Just adds to the excitement, no?" the krogan replies, striding forwards himself. "I owe you all one for getting rid of those energy fields for us, though. Now, hand over the doctor."

"As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll pass," Shepard replies sardonically.

"Well, we've got ourselves a feisty one here," the krogan chuckles. "But it's not a choice. Saren wants her, and he _always _gets what he wants."

"Not this time," Shepard hisses, then picks up one geth biotically and hurls it at the krogan like a javelin. The krogan dodges at the last second, moving his head an inch to the side, and the smile that was previously on his face turns into a snarl as the geth smashes against the wall behind him.

"Kill them!" he shouts, as the rest of us dash to the sparse cover around the arena. "Spare the asari if you can, but don't worry about it too much!"

"What a gentleman," Kaidan grunts, as I push him down behind cover with me. "Wrex is like a hanar compared to that guy."

"Tell me about it," I reply, taking a quick glance out at the situation. Two of the geth are still standing…both with their attention turned to me and Kaidan while the krogan chases Shepard, who's deliberately peeled away from Tali, Ash and Liara as a distraction. "Can you still shoot?"

"Yep," he smiles, reaching for his pistol. "Biotics are going to be too much effort, but I can fire a gun fine."

"Good," I grin, then we both pop out from our hiding places simultaneously and both shoot rapidly at one geth, taking down its shields in seconds. I finish it off with a quick Overload, while Tali and the rest of the squad make short work of the second.

Wow, it was almost pointless for the krogan to even bother bringing them along…but said krogan is going to be a serious problem.

Shepard puts shot after shot into him from her pistol, still recovering from her biotic efforts previously, but the krogan just laughs manically as he strides towards her, eating shots like fucking _candy. _Kind of sucks how they regenerate…

He reaches back with a huge fist and slugs Shepard straight in the chest, sending her flying with a pained yell. Holy shit, it's like the fucking tank from Left 4 Dead! Once again, if bullets don't cut it…I reach for my knife, holstering one pistol and grabbing the melee weapon with my spare hand, placing it under the pistol. The krogan turns towards Shepard, who's struggling to get back onto her feet…leaving his back wide open to me. Now's my chance!

I rush forward, hurling myself onto his back and driving the knife in between his shoulder blades. The krogan roars with pain, but doesn't go down, swatting at me with massive hands that barely miss me. I drive the knife in again and again, but every time the wound heals straight away and the krogan just gets madder and madder. Fuck…

One of his snatches to the back finally hits home, and the krogan manages to grab me by the throat, lifting me off his back and holding me out in front of him with a grunt of effort. I can see Shepard and the rest of the squad trying to get an angle for the shot…but the krogan circles rapidly with me as a shield, laughing as he does so. Shit, I can't breath…his hand slowly crushes my windpipe, look on his face clearly showing he's enjoying this. I kick at his arms, but I'd probably have had more of an effect hitting him with a rolled up newspaper. The knife still dangles loosely in my hand, but it's not done much good already, and I'm too far away to attack…

As black spots start to appear in my vision, the krogan pulls me in closer, right up to his eye level. The faint, insufficient breaths I can draw in just let me smell the rotting stench of his breath, look into his grinning face like a mask of death…

"_Get a knife stuck in the right way, and you can pull that plate right off a krogan's head."_

What the fuck? Why can I hear Zaeed talking to me when I'm about to die? Wait a minute…knife, krogan's head…

With the last iota of energy left in me, I lunge forward with my right arm, driving the knife right under the plate. The reaction is immediate. The krogan lets go of me straight away, screaming at the top of his lungs. And I mean, screaming. The noise is deafening, but I persevere, driving the handle up and then pushing down on it. The scream reaches a crescendo…and the plate pops clean off, causing the krogan to fall backwards, bawling like a baby. The rest of the squad immediately open fire, and even with his regeneration abilities, he can't handle that much. The krogan lies dead in seconds, but I'm too busy collapsing onto the ground to care, clutching at my crushed windpipe and trying to draw in air.

"Come on, Ian!" Shepard shouts, but her voice sounds extremely distant. "We've got to go!" I'm on the edges of consciousness, it's taking all my energy to stay awake, never mind run…then I feel a pair of hands grab me, being slung over someone's shoulder, and bumping up and down as my saviour dashes out. The rest passes as a blur, a cacophony of noise and sights all jumbled up as I try to stay awake, try not to become a completely dead weight. I catch flashes of rubble falling, the walkways buckling, the familiar blue lights of the tunnel as we ascend…

Then we break into blinding daylight, and I look up, just as the Normandy begins to descend towards us, Shepard waving at it frantically, her hands blurring as she does so.

My last thought is how majestic the Normandy looks in the planet's blue sun…then nothing but inky blackness.

**A/N: Had to get three epic knife kills in, one for each chapter…I couldn't just leave it, especially since Zaeed suggests it. That's one Renegade interrupt that needs to be in ME3.**

**Snow day over here, meaning I managed to update rather quickly, hurray! So, don't expect me to be this rapid normally, hahaha. It is pretty awesome, having all this time to write though when I'm not sledging.**

**Speaking of awesome, I'm now working on a second project called Mass Effect: Recreation. The whole thing was set up by Ryan PM, absolutely amazing writer and one my biggest inspirations, and it's a collaboration between him, myself and Herr Wozzeck where we all write one character for it (I've got Garrus, surprise surprise.) It would take a while to explain the whole concept…but my debut chapter for that is up, as is Ryan's, so head to it and take a look. Review this, then go and read it. Or do it the other way around. Just read it, m'kay!**

**Almost 300 reviews as well…the milestones just keep on falling. Thank you all.**

**Until next time!**


	16. Ian vs The Subconscious

Chapter 16

Dream Sequence – Tetsuya Shibata: La Vita Nuova

Circa Survive: Imaginary Enemy

**A/N: This chapter is actually going to be a little odd, as a vast amount of it is going to be from Kaidan's POV as he tells the story Ian's been bugging him about for…around ten chapters now. It's way better than doing it in conversation form, writing it as a short story suits me (and probably you readers) a lot better.**

**I totally owe Kassandra Black one for helping out on this chapter, though. Needed a Kaidan expert for this chapter, and she was more than happy to oblige, so thanks. **

"Ian."

I whirl around in the blackness, searching for the source of the sound. The voice sounds teasingly familiar, so close, yet I cast around with my arms and can't find the source.

"I'm here, Ian."

Out of nowhere, a spotlight illuminates a spot up ahead of me, temporarily blinding me. The figure there, sitting in a chair, face half-turned towards me first appears to be a silhouette, but as I get closer my mind finally matches up the voice with the person…

"Rebecca?" I gasp, taking steps forward but seemingly not getting any closer. "Is that really you? Is this a dream?"

"Of course it's a dream," she smiles, patiently. "I'm simply an extension of your mind, a personification of your emotions to try and help your rationalise your thoughts. You got knocked out by a krogan on Therum, remember?"

"Oh, right," I say, taken aback by her honesty. "That would explain why you're not getting any closer…and why we're in this place…this all seems a very lucid dream, though."

She shakes her head, smiling. "It's not a dream, as such. This is your psyche, if you will, where you can gather thoughts in a way not possible when you're conscious. As for your surprise at my bluntness, it's extremely difficult to lie to yourself convincingly. Your subconscious is aware of what this is, even though this seems weird to you." Okay, what the fuck, how does she know what I'm thinking… "Mind your language, Ian," she continues, sardonically. "I wouldn't have approved. As for my mind-reading, remember that I'm technically part of you, so I know what you're thinking."

"That makes sense, in a really weird way," I sigh, looking at the figure seated in front of me, still turned half away. "Why you, though?"

"You feel I'm someone you can confide in, someone you trust truly, plus you're missing me a lot, which is why I'm not Garrus or somebody else. We don't have time to delve into the intricacies of this anyway, you'll have to wake up at some point."

I nod, feeling calmer. It doesn't look like I can get out of here…and if this is going to help me, I guess I should just roll with it. Though two things are bothering me… "If this happens again, are you the permanent extension of my psyche? Or will it change, depending on context?"

"This is the first time this has ever happened to you, and mentally you're attuned to me being here. Habits ingrained in your mind like I am die hard, after all. That's why you still pick at your fingernails." I instinctively cover my fingers as she says that. The second issue is that I'm getting a horrible feeling she's going to be like Cobb's wife from Inception…

"Just don't go thinking I'm a shade, and you'll be fine," she grins. "I'm you, Ian, so I'm not going to try killing you."

I'm not particularly comfortable with all this…

Rebecca chuckles. "Relax, it should be over fairly soon."

"I really don't like that you know what I'm thinking," I mutter. "That's something I'm going to take a while getting used to."

"You're not really going to have to become used to it, these events are rare," she explains. "But we've wasted enough time with this already. I'm here because you're worried about me, Ian."

I raise an eyebrow. "I've been worried about you for months, Rebecca, so why bring this up now?"

"You know why. Obviously," she says, rolling her eyes. "The information's in your head, you just need to piece it together. Those codes Garrus has are going to bring something up soon. You've done two missions with Shepard already, they might even have brought results while you lie unconscious in the med-bay." I feel an adrenaline rush as she talks. She…well, I have a good point, it's about the time I've been expecting…

"It is," she nods. "You're conflicted though, in more ways than one. You want to think I'm alive, yet you worry I'm dead."

"I know you're alive," I say, firmly. "We're going to meet up on the Fedele, I know it!"

She chuckles softly. "Like I said, you can't lie to yourself, Ian. I know all of your thoughts. Saleon's ship was devoid of life in Mass Effect, filled with the husk corpses of his experiments. You want to think I'm special, somehow avoided that fate, but another part of you thinks I'm already dead." I shake my head furiously, taking a few steps back, trying to deny it in my head but knowing she's right…

"So what, then?" I ask, raising my voice in anger. "Are you dead or alive? You seem to be holding all the answers here!"

"I only know as much as you do, in a way," Rebecca replies calmly, shaking her head. "I can rationalise thoughts you wouldn't link together yourself consciously, but not look into the future. You'll have to see for yourself."

"See for myself? What the hell was the point in this conversation, then!" I shout. "I thought you were linking this together for me!"

She remains cool, which infuriates me even further. "I am. It's important you fully recognise your thoughts and concerns. About Tali'Zorah, as well."

"What?" I ask, taken aback. "She's been blanking me since the armature thing on Therum, though…"

"You know why that is," Rebecca smiles. "She's becoming friends with you, Ian, and you putting yourself at risk will have worried her." I nod, slowly. That actually makes a lot of sense…but how am I supposed to make it up to her?

"I can't read her mind, just yours," she says. "Talk to her, work it out. It can't be easy, becoming attached to someone then thinking they're going to die. Then again, you'd all know about that," she laughs. "Which is mainly why we're having this conversation. Which has come to an end, I'm afraid."

As she speaks, the spotlight above Rebecca flickers, and she seems to begin receding into the distance, away from me… "Wait!" I yell. "Are you alive or dead? I need to know!"

"The answer lies in your heart," she says, still half facing away from me. "Though, you might already be too late." With that, she finally turns to face me…and the sight is horrifying. The part of the face she's hidden is a skull, the shock of seeing causing me to stagger back, tripping over my own feet and falling backwards as the image burns itself into my retina…

My eyes shoot open, revealing the Normandy's med-bay in all its glory…plus Chakwas and Garrus leaning over my bed.

"Fancy seeing you in here again, Ian," Chakwas says, dryly, retreating slightly as I wake. "Mr. Vakarian here was quite concerned when they brought you in. I, on the other hand, wasn't particularly surprised."

Garrus nods, but he's smiling in his distinctively mischievous way… "I can't leave you for one mission, and you go and get knocked out," he adds mockingly. "Honestly, I need to babysit him everywhere he goes," Garrus says to Chakwas, feigning exasperation.

"And I need to babysit you if you ever get into some kind of sparring match, make sure you don't get enticed into any tiebreakers," I sigh, propping myself up onto my elbows, still feeling disoriented by my dream. Chakwas barely stifles a laugh when I say that, and Garrus's fringe flushes a light shade of blue…wow, that must be the turian equivalent of blushing! "So," I turn to Chakwas, massaging my throat as it begins to ache slightly, "what's the damage this time? Nothing permanent, I hope?"

"You got off lightly," a new voice says from next to me, and I look across to see Kaidan lying in the bed opposite me, small smile on his face. "I'm the one being kept in for a bullet wound and all the stuff that entails. Getting choked by a krogan is nothing compared to that."

I cough lightly, as I draw in breath a bit too quickly for my slightly crushed windpipe to manage. "Certainly doesn't feel like getting off lightly, but you've probably got it worse," I agree. "How long are you being kept in for?"

"He's in for about a day or so," Chakwas says, briskly. "As for your good self, I'll let you out in about an hour. Just want to let your throat recover before you go and get some other injury."

"You're so thoughtful, doc," I grin, thinking back to the mission…and the destroyed Mako. Fuck, someone's got to break the news to Garrus… "Oh yeah, Garrus, I've got some bad news for you," I say, slowly.

"What?" he asks abruptly. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head. "The Mako, mate, we dropped it in some lava to make a bridge. It's not coming back."

He looks absolutely distraught.

Kaidan chuckles to himself as I put my hand on Garrus's talon, feigning sincerity. "I'm sorry for your loss, mate."

"Great, that's another five or so hours of my life wasted calibrating that thing," the turian moans, throwing his arms up. "I don't even know why I bother."

Chakwas thankfully leaps to my rescue though, before Garrus can get any more annoyed. "Come on, Garrus, my patients need their rest," she says, laughing at the expression on the outraged turian's face as she talks.

"Rest? I'll show that krogan how to wring someone's neck!" he says jokingly as he walks out of the room. "I need time to grieve."

"I didn't know turians could be so dramatic," Kaidan smiles, as Chakwas chuckles and heads off to her desk down the corridor away from us.

I shake my head. "He's certainly one of a kind…though this isn't a bad opportunity, both of us being stuck in here."

"How so?" Kaidan asks, looking confused.

"Gives you plenty of time to tell me that story you've been saving, and you've got no excuses to get away from it," I wink. The look on Kaidan's face show I've got him cornered here, and he knows it. About damn time!

"You don't give up, do you kid? Fine, fine, let me jog my memory. Get comfortable." I lean back against the bed's headboard, stretching out and relaxing my muscles. After a wait this long, it'd better be good…

Kaidan smiles, presumably as the memory comes to him. "Alright, it was in 2175, I think, only a couple of years after I joined the Alliance. My squad and I had been dropped near a batarian slaver base, under orders to scout it out and gain intel for an Alliance attack…"

#########

Kaidan Alenko lay prone at the peak of a hill just opposite the batarian base, binoculars raised to his eyes as the rest of his squad scouted out the area in the same manner he was. Thick grass clung to his camouflaged suit as he lay there, the dense foliage surrounding him limiting the binoculars' line of sight. Of all the damn places the batarians would have a base, it would be a humid jungle planet.

The binoculars shook in his grip slightly, and Kaidan cursed quietly to himself. It was his first gig in charge of a full squad, in command, and the nerves were getting to him.

_At least I'm not freaking out, _Kaidan thought to himself, remembering the story of Corporal Raef Atkinson. Atkinson's first mission as commanding officer had been against batarian slavers who were holding humans as well, but the Corporal had panicked and lead an all out offensive with five men. Massacre didn't even begin to do it justice.

Kaidan wasn't hoping for a repeat incident.

"Looks like they're getting ready to move the prisoners out somewhere, sir," Kaidan's XO, Corporal Liam Daniels, muttered next to him. "If the Alliance wants to launch an attack and rescue these people, they're gonna have to do it soon."

Kaidan nodded silently, still scoping out the base. It didn't seem like the batarians were too concerned about security…two were lazily patrolling the perimeter, while three were huddled up in the guardhouse smoking cigarettes. Intel suggested there were more inside…but the Alliance wasn't going to have much trouble with exterior security.

"Come on, sir, we've been watching these idiots for two hours now," another squad member, Liquid, complained.

Kaidan was in charge of four other soldiers, all assigned codenames for the mission due to its covert nature. Personally, he felt it was stupid, but Solidus, Liquid, Raiden (Liam) and Otacon all loved the idea for some reason. Kaidan had been stuck with the name Snake, which he detested. He wouldn't have been surprised if the names had been inspired by one of those stupid video games his commanding officer played incessantly in his spare time…

"For once, Liquid, you might actually be right," he sighed, rolling onto his back and standing up slowly, making sure his camouflaged suit still blended in with the environment. Though, considering the calibre of the guards, he could probably wear brightly coloured, polka-dotted armour and still not get spotted. "We've got all the intel we're going to. Someone get in touch with the ship, give them the sitrep and tell them we need evac."

Raiden reached up to his comm unit, pressing the button to begin the transmission back to the ship, then frowned, pressing the button again. "My radio must be fried or something, Snake. Can someone else try?"

Kaidan reached for his own radio, hearing nothing but an empty click as he pressed the transmit button, and from the looks of things the rest of the squad were having the same problem.

"Did we not do a radio check when we touched down?" he asked, incredulously, glancing over at Otacon, who was supposed to be in charge of communications.

"No," the man replied nervously, shaking his head. "Radio check was considered too risky, in case we got detected."

"Fuck…" Kaidan muttered. He rarely swore, yet the situation demanded something slightly more than an 'oh dear'… "those batarians must have a signal jammer around here, blocking everyone except themselves!"

########

"Wait, wait," I say, smiling. "What were the codenames again?"

"Snake, Solidus, Liquid, Raiden and Otacon," Kaidan frowns. "Why?"

I shake my head, chuckling lightly. Looks like Metal Gear Solid is timeless… "No reason. But you forgot a radio check? That's sloppy, Kaidan."

"It was my first mission, kid!" he protests. "I had higher priorities! Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?"

"Sorry," I smile. "Of course I want to hear it! Please, continue."

########

"The Alliance is going to come looking for us eventually," Solidus said hopefully. "If we just wait it out, we'll be fine."

Kaidan shook his head firmly. This might be his first mission where he was in charge, but he wasn't an FNG. "No, no way. If the Alliance come looking for us, any element of surprise we've got is going to get blown to pieces. Besides, you said it yourself, it looks like they're getting ready to move the prisoners out. We weren't due to check in for another hour or so, and they might have mobilised by then, which means the whole mission will have been for nothing."

"So what? We don't have a choice!" Liquid snapped. "There's no comm units around here for us to use, and five men against an entire batarian base is suicide, even if they're not professionals."

"There's always a choice," Kaidan smiled, moving up into a crouched position. "You're right, Raiden, trying to fight them would be suicide. But there's got to be a comms unit within that base, and we're equipped for a stealth mission. We stay here and do nothing, and the people in that base are as good as gone. I can't risk that. If we can sneak in and call the cavalry, we should be able to shut this place down and make the rescue, as planned."

Otacon shook his head. "Awful lot of ifs and shoulds in there, Snake."

"I'm commanding officer here, so you don't you dare question my authority!" Kaidan replied furiously, whirling on Otacon. Normally, Kaidan was a friendly and approachable boss…which made it all the more effective when he had to get people into shape. "You've got a problem with it, put it in your report after the mission. I'm not letting those bastards take humans to sell as slaves, I guarantee it. Whatever you want to do, I'm going in. Anyone who wants to stay, feel free, but don't expect a warm reception when the Alliance gets called in."

A silence descended on the group, then Otacon looked back up at Kaidan, apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, boss. I'm with you."

There's a chorus of 'same here' and 'me too' from around, as Kaidan's anger gradually died down. "Look, guys, I know tensions are running high here. This is my first mission in charge, but we're not doing this because I'm trying to prove myself, or something. We're doing this because it's right."

"We know, sir," Raiden said, smiling reassuringly. "Everyone here's served alongside you long enough to know that." Kaidan couldn't help grinning at Raiden's words. The man had been a loyal friend almost all the way through his Alliance career, despite Raiden being quite a few years his junior, and it was times like these Kaidan appreciated the friendship the most. That, and it had helped the others come to terms with him being a biotic…but that was another story unto itself.

"Alright," he finally said. "Plan. We know their patrol routines inside-out on the outside of the base, but the interior is another thing entirely. We've also got no idea where the comms unit actually is, so we'll have to try and find a map or something. We've all got silenced weaponry, so use them if you have to, but a corpse is going to cause us trouble to hide. Don't get too trigger happy, okay?"

There was a series of firm nods from the group, and the sound of weapons being checked lightly permeated the air. Kaidan grimaced slightly as he slowly headed down the hill towards the base, making sure to blend his camo in with the surroundings. Why couldn't things ever just go to plan?

#########

"Raiden sounds like a cool guy," I note, smiling, as Kaidan takes a quick break to grab a drink of water from the bedside table. "Or Liam, whatever his real name is."

Kaidan nods. "It's Liam. Or, it was Liam. He died, actually, two years after."

The smile on my face quickly drops, and I feel a slight sinking feeling in my gut. "Oh crap…sorry, mate."

"It's alright," he waves it away with a hand. "It was a long time ago, I've dealt with it, you didn't know. He died a hero, holding the line for his squad. I wasn't working with him at the time, I'd been posted somewhere else…but it seemed right. It's how he'd have wanted to go. It's funny, he was young too, bit like you…I called him 'kid' as well, as a matter of fact."

"Bloody hell," I mutter, "I hope it's not a curse, then!" Kaidan chuckles a little when I say that, and the mood in the room brightens again. "You're not just going to leave the story there, are you?"

"No, course not," he replies, shaking his head. "We were heading into the base, and evading the exterior security was a piece of cake…the problems started when we got inside. One problem, actually, of the four-legged variety…"

#########

Kaidan held up a fist, signalling for his team to stop. The electronic counter-measures that had been added to their omnitools specifically for this mission had allowed them to infiltrate the base undetected. The upgrade masked their presence inside the base by sending out passive electronic emissions. The batarians wouldn't be alerted to their presence unless Kaidan and his team were physically seen. However, sometimes ECM's weren't the best way to avoid enemy detection…

He smelled it before he heard it…a rotting stench that was soon accompanied by loud snarls. Though he likened the animals to guard dogs, he had never really dealt with varren before. He heard three, maybe four varren in the next hallway. Shit. The last thing they needed was for the smelly bastards to alert the whole base of their presence.

He turned to his team, pointing to Raiden, Solidus, and Otacon and silently ordering them to keep making their way down the hall. He didn't want for the team to split up, but there was no other choice. They needed to find that communications room before the batarians made a move to transfer the prisoners elsewhere. Besides, he was more than sure that he and Liquid could take on the varren.

As Raiden, Solidus and Otacon disappeared around the corner, Kaidan and Liquid moved forward, pistols drawn. The slight hiss of their guns firing were barely heard over the growling of the varren as they, apparently, fought over some rancid meat Kaidan could only assume was their food. The first two went down rather easily considering the animals had been too preoccupied eating and hadn't noticed the two humans closing in on them.

It was the last varren, the slightly larger one that gave them trouble. It quickly advanced, going straight for Kaidan. He and Liquid unloaded on the beast, but it seemed the mass projectiles seemingly did it little harm, despite the punctures and gashes it tore into the varren's body.

Before Kaidan could even summon up his biotics, the creature lunged, front paws crashing into Kaidan's chest causing for him to stumble and fall backwards. Kaidan instinctively raised his arm, trying to block his face and neck from the varren's snapping jaws, only to almost cry out in pain as the animal's sharp teeth sunk into his forearm.

Kaidan had clearly underestimated the power of the varren. Liquid stepped in, kicking the creature off of Kaidan and allowing Kaidan just enough time to biotically throw the animal against the wall. The varren's head smacked sharply against the wall, a sharp crack echoed as it neck broke, and the body slumped down to the floor, dead. Kaidan felt a sudden wave of guilt as he thought back to BAat and Commander Vyrnnus, accidentally breaking the turian's neck…but he blocked it out quickly. He hadn't been comfortable using his biotics on a living thing after the incident…but the circumstances had called for it.

Unfortunately, the noise of the animal hitting the wall must have alerted whoever was on the other side. Shuffling and footsteps could be heard from inside the room, and Kaidan and Liquid quickly placed themselves on either side of the door just as a batarian poked his head out to see what was going on. Kaidan caught the batarian's look of surprise as he turned to him, just as Liquid shoved his pistol aggressively into the batarian's face.

"Alright?" he asked, grinning menacingly. "Make a sound, you're dead, got it?" The batarian nodded slowly, face screwed up by the barrel of Liquid's gun.

"Good," Kaidan nodded. "Now, you're going to tell us where the communications tower is." The batarian stayed silent. "When I say now, I mean now." Liquid pushed his pistol into the man's face even further.

"You head up the corridor, take a left turn, it's the third door on the left," he finally growled, typically deep batarian voice suppressed by his whisper.

Kaidan thought carefully. These guys were amateurs, sure, but that didn't mean they were total idiots…and those directions could lead into some kind of trap. "We'll take you with is, then," he finally nodded. "If you're lying to us, if it's some kind of trap, at least you can take a few bullets for us."

The batarian sighed, deeply. "Fine. Take the right turn, fifth door on your left should lead you to it."

"Thanks," Liquid smiled, sarcastically, then slammed his pistol into the batarian's head, knocking him out cold. Both soldiers advanced slowly up the corridor, following the batarian's direction, and stood on opposite sides of the door they'd been directed to. Kaidan gave Liquid a curt nod, and they both burst into the room, pistols drawn.

Completely empty of hostiles, but one comms unit set up straight in front of them.

Breathing a sigh of relief and closing the door behind them, they each set about finding the right controls to establish a communications link to the Alliance. Even with Kaidan's tech knowledge, it was hard to decipher exactly which buttons to press considering he knew next to nothing about the batarian language.

"Shit, Snake, what the hell do we do? Which button do we press?" Liquid said, his eyes scanning over the various flashing panels.

But Kaidan had worked with tech all his life. He looked around the room knowingly. There was always one in every communications room…

"It's always a good idea to RTFM," Kaidan said, hoarse voice chuckling as he made his way over to the bookcase on the far side of the wall.

Liquid looked surprised as Kaidan began to flick through the instruction manual, thanking his luck as he found the instruction page written in English. "RTFM?"

"Read the fucking manual, Liquid." With that, he strode forward purposefully and began pressing buttons to set the frequency of the signal, occasionally glancing at the manual in order not to screw up. It didn't take particularly long to get through to the Alliance ship in orbit.

"_It's a signal from the base…" _Kaidan caught someone murmuring, then a full voice came through the unit, the familiar tone of his commander, the ship's Colonel. "_Slaver base, you are surrounded by Alliance troops. Surrender_ immediately!_"_

"Spare me the theatrics, sir," Kaidan chuckled. "The batarian's still have no idea we're here, the mission's still on."

There was a pause, presumably as the Colonel realised what he was hearing. "_Snake?" _he asked, incredulously. _"Is that you? What the hell are you doing in the base, you were supposed to be gathering intel!"_

"And we were," he replied coolly, "but the batarians have a signal jammer on the planet for any foreign communications. We couldn't get in touch with you for extraction, and the slavers look set to ship out pretty soon. Waiting for you to come looking for us wasn't an option."

A hissing sound came through the speakers as the Colonel sighed. "_So, should we launch an attack now?"_

"Affirmative, sir," Kaidan smiled, glad that his commanding officer wasn't too annoyed about their plan. "The security here's a mess, to be honest. Get ships down here immediately, we should be able to overwhelm them with numbers."

"Roger that," the Colonel replied, almost sounding…pleased, if Kaidan wasn't mistaken. "You and the rest of your squad cause a bit of havoc down there, distract from the inside. The chaos should let us seize control without a problem."

Kaidan grinned at Liquid, drawing his pistol. "You've got it, Colonel. Snake out."

"Did he just give us permission to break stealth?" Liquid asked apprehensively.

"Pretty much," Kaidan nodded, smiling, looking out of the room's window…and seeing the first Alliance ships soaring towards the base, just specks in the distance but quickly growing larger and larger in his vision. "Head out there, start causing damage and try to set off some kind of alarm to get them confused."

"Thank you, sir!" Liquid grinned, then dashed out of the room, pistol readied. Kaidan followed him, unable to help a pleased smirk rising onto his face.

Provided Liquid didn't go getting himself shot, mission accomplished.

#########

"The Alliance swooped in to save the day minutes after Liquid left the room," Kaidan says, voice sounding slightly hoarse from all the talking he's done. "The team Raiden was leading managed to find where they keeping the slaves, pretty much started a riot by letting them loose after the batarians surrendered. Those people had been kept in awful conditions, so we understood if they felt like taking their frustrations out on the surroundings and their ex-captors. Like the Colonel wanted, total chaos."

"Wow…" I say. It's the only thing I can say, to be honest. I expected Kaidan to have a history of impressive past missions, but still… "Liquid didn't go getting himself shot though, did he?"

"No," Kaidan laughs. "I've never lost a man under my command."

"And the Alliance?" I ask, eagerly. "How'd they take it?"

The Lieutenant grins. "Hell of a lot better than I was expecting. I thought I'd be in for disobeying orders or something, but they actually praised me for taking the initiative and keeping it all together. Put me forward for promotion, it lead to more missions in charge…ultimately, it led to here, I guess. So, was that worth the wait?"

"I think so," I smile, genuinely meaning it. "Explains what you've got against varren pretty well."

"Is that all you got from that story?" Kaidan asks, sounding exasperated. "There was the moral of not giving up in there, a subtext about friendship…"

I shake my head, chuckling. "I hate reading into things like that." I can thank GCSE English for that…Of Mice and Men would probably have been a really good book if they'd just let us enjoy it, rather than tearing it apart word by word…

"My wisdom is lost on you younger generations," he replies, mockingly, as Chakwas returns to the room.

"You're good to go, Ian," she smiles. "Interesting story Kaidan, I must say. Got any more hidden away?"

He shakes his head ruefully. "Nothing quite as dramatic as that one. And it would take hours to tell them all…" he looks thoughtful. "Then again, I'm not exactly going anywhere."

"I'll pass on any more stories, as good as that sounds," I quickly say, leaping out of the bed. The 'conversation' with Rebecca is still preying on my mind a little…while I can't speed up the codes, I can try and apologise to Tali. "Thanks for looking after me again, Chakwas."

"Don't mention it," she replies dryly. "I imagine it won't be the last time."

"True," I nod, smiling a little shyly. Curse my habit of getting into danger so damn easily…it's a real pain, pun not intended.

"See you, kid," Kaidan shouts after me, as I head through the med-bay doors.

"See you, old man!" I call back, just catching the little smirk on his face as the door slides shut behind me.

**A/N: Well, hoped everyone enjoyed that little departure from self-insert for a little bit…it won't be happening again (and if it does, not for a long time), so business as usual next chapter! Specifically the business of crew interactions!**

**What will Wrex think of Ian's actions on Therum? How will Liara react to him? Will Tali accept some kind of apology? Will Ash just deck him again? Find out next chapter! (Cue dramatic outro music.)**

**Three hundred and…ten reviews, I think now. Got to say, people, it's bloody phenomenal. Thanks to you all once again! (I know I say it every time, but only because I mean it!)**

**Until next time!**


	17. Ian vs The Apology

Chapter 17

Two Door Cinema Club: Something Good Can Work

**A/N: Emotional chapter ahoy! Well, the last bit is, kind of, and I'm least confident with those bits…so be gentle. **

**On a completely unrelated note, I don't know if anyone is watching 'Bite Me' on YouTube, the live-action zombie series on Machinima's channel…but it comes highly recommended from me. If you like zombie films and/or games and comedy, you'll love it.**

**And with that, awayyyy we go!**

"_The answer lies in your heart"._

I shake my head as I head towards Liara's place on the Normandy, sighing lightly as I do so. I always did have a flair for the overdramatic bordering on cheesy…a trait obviously carried over into my subconscious. I suppose it means I should go with my gut feeling, but I'm not even sure what that is anymore.

Half her face was a bloody skull, for God's sake! Considering that was my subconscious talking to me, it should be fairly obvious that I'm torn between thinking she's alive or dead…which is accurate, depressingly. I've got absolutely no rational reason to think she's still alive somewhere on the ship, that Saleon hasn't just performed some sick experiment on her and just left it there…but considering I don't even belong in this universe, I've got prophetic visions that may or may not be of Prothean origin running around in my head and my best friend is an alien, irrationality is something I've come to cling onto around here.

Maybe Liara will help me chill out a bit, though I'm half expecting Garrus to come flying around a corner any second now to tell me the codes came up with a result. I'm getting serious butterflies in my stomach, to put it lightly, almost feeling a little bit ill…I suppose taking my mind off it by talking to Liara can't hurt!

"Hey," I say, walking into her office and giving her a little wave as she swivels in her chair to face me. "Your hallucination's come back to haunt you."

"No, that's not possible, my sanity is fine. Unless I've been insane all along…" her facial expression becomes gradually more and more concerned. Well, so much for a relaxing conversation. God, the sooner her ME2 bitch stage gets here, the better. Sure, she might be horrible, but at least some vague people skills are in place…

I smile reassuringly. "It's a joke, Liara. You've heard of them, right?"

"What?" she says, looking surprised. "Yes, of course, I…sorry, I am not always the best at picking up on the subtle things like that. It comes with being in a dig site like that for so long, without really having any contact with anyone."

I gesture towards a seat, trying my best to be polite. "May I?"

"Yes, yes, of course," she smiles, and I pull up the chair. "It's nice actually, being in a ship like this. Both you and Shepard have come to visit me already."

"The Commander likes to get to know her crew quite a lot," I reply, though the thought of the possible Liara and Shepard romance is nagging away in my mind…though I'd be pretty damn surprised if that came about. "It's a pretty social crew, actually, which is surprising considering all the different species on board."

"I did notice that," Liara says, smiling a little. "A krogan and a turian serving on the same ship is…interesting, to say the least. Quarian and asari on an Alliance ship, as well, I'm sure Shepard's superiors won't be too pleased."

"Like it or not, not much they can do," I shrug. "She's the Spectre, after all."

Liara's eyes widen when I say that. "Of course, I didn't mean to suggest they should take action or something…" Damn, here we go again. It's kind of funny, actually, how she takes everything so seriously, so I feel a little bit bad for initially getting annoyed at it. It's hardly her fault, after all.

"Relax, Liara, I'm not saying I've got a problem with it. I like it, actually, all the different cultures on board."

"Oh?" she says, sounding surprised. "You have an interest in alien culture?"

I nod, smiling. "Yeah, quite a bit. The galaxy's a big place, I like to know the people we're sharing it with. Garrus, the turian you saw, he's been my bro for years now. We're closer than any humans I know."

"Bro? How is that even genetically pos…ah, a human idiom, right?" she says, grinning as the realisation dawns on her.

"See, you're getting it," I say. "Bro here means very good friends."

Liara nods understandingly. "I see. It's odd to see a human and turian as good friends, even more to find someone with knowledge of other species." She suddenly starts fidgeting slightly, looking a little shy. "You seem rather open-minded, actually, do you find any attraction in…"

"That's a bit of a personal question!" I splutter, taken aback by her bluntness. Liara looks even more shy now that the question seems to have backfired, and I'm not actually offended, just surprised…best to put her at ease. "Honestly? Depends on the species." Her despondent look suddenly turns curious. "I mean," I cough, feeling a little awkward. "Not like hanar, and I've not got a fetish for aliens…" The attentive look I'm getting off her is beginning to freak me out a little. She probably thinks this is like normal conversation, or I've persuaded her to be a little _too _relaxed… "But I wouldn't turn someone down because of their species, if there was a real love there."

"You're an interesting person, Ian," she smiles. I'm really not sure whether or not to feel freaked out. "Almost asari like, in a way."

I raise an eyebrow. Of course, asari generally mate with other species… "I guess," I nod, slowly. "I told you, I know a fair bit about alien cultures," I continue, in response to Liara's look of surprise at my knowledge.

"Indeed…" the asari replies, looking thoughtful. This might be a point where she brings up she's pureblood…I actually feel a little disgusted by myself thinking the word, when it's meant as an insult in asari culture, but it's the best way of describing it. "Not that it's a bad thing, of course. If everyone had the same ideals of you, for example, the galaxy would be a better place."

"Don't think there's much chance of that," I sigh. "Definitely in the minority in this galaxy. Besides, for every open minded person there's at least one hater. For light to exist, there must also be shadow." Ah, very poetic, nicely done…

"Well put," Liara nods. "The Commander seems to be on the same side as you there, I think." Whoa, Liara, that's a pretty big statement to make…

"What makes you think that?" I ask, trying to hide my surprise, lest it make her panic and not explain.

"She was talking to the turian…Garrus, was it?" I nod. "He and Shepard were hanging about by the kitchen while you were unconscious, having a good talk." Ha, I never had Liara down as a gossip, go figure. "I know little about romance, but I believe there might be…" she looks frustrated as she tries to think of the word. "A spark, as you humans say. Is that it?"

"You and me both, Liara," I grin. "Wrex, the krogan, seems to think so as well. There's might just be friends, though. You talk to someone around here, everyone seems to think you're romancing or something. I wonder what people think about Tali and I, considering the amount we talk…" I think back to the quarian, her anger on Therum… "Or the amount we talked, anyway."

Liara's eyes light up when I say that. "I was picking up on a little hostility between you two when we were in the dig site," she nods, happily. "I may not be confident in conversation, but I can be perceptive when I want to be."

"Well, good for you!" I snap, impatiently, immediately regretting it as Liara's face falls. "Sorry, Liara, I'm just a little worked up about it. She's a good friend, or at least she was. I need to apologise, but then she might not take it too well, or something…"

"She can't be that angry with you," Liara says, looking confused. "After all, she was the one who carried you out of the dig site." Wait a minute, what? Tali's the one who saved me, even though she was so mad at me…I'm left reeling by that little bombshell, as Liara turns towards her terminal screen and grimaces.

"Sorry, Ian, I have the research data from the dig site to finalise at some point. If you want to talk later, though, then feel free."

"Yeah, I might do that…" I reply absently, heading to the door with my mind on something completely different. "Talk to you later, Liara." The door slides shut, and I quickly lean against the wall as it does so, gathering my thoughts.

So, Tali, despite her being pissed off at me, still risked her life to save mine…instead of being worried about talking to her, now I'm almost curious to see what exactly is going on in her mind. In that dream, Rebecca suggested it was because she was concerned about losing a friend which is why she got so mad…and to be honest, that's looking more and more like the case. But I'll just have to wait and see, I suppose, and I'm still feeling a little nervous about heading to engineering…

I head towards the elevator, noticing how quiet the whole area actually is. Kaidan's in the med-bay, but Shepard normally seems to favour here and she's not around. Huh, I'm sure there's some kind of explanation for it all. Just before I press the elevator's call button, the doors spring open regardless…and Ash walks out, almost straight into me.

"Crap, Ian, sorry!" she says quickly, both of us stepping in the same direction to avoid each other and just colliding instead. We both quickly step back, and I almost feel like facepalming. It's so awkward when stuff like that happens, I swear… "I was miles away."

"You don't say," I chuckle, mainly because of the apologetic expression on the soldier's face. Never thought I'd see _her _looking worried about hurting someone's feelings, of all people…then again, we're friends now, I think. "What's the rush, anyway?"

"I'm going to see Kaidan in the med-bay," she smiles. "Now you're out, he mustn't have anyone to talk to." Aw, she cares! About the human, anyway, I get the distinct feeling if it was Liara in the med-bay she probably wouldn't give a shit. Which reminds me, actually…

"Yeah, probably not," I say quickly, wanting to move the subject on. "Have you talked to the newest crew member yet, then?"

She shakes her head ruefully. "Don't even bother, Ian. Shepard's already talked to me about my little outburst, it's not going to happen again. I think we'll just leave each other alone, okay?" She makes to move past me, but I sidestep slightly to get in her way.

"No, it's not really," I reply, barely able to believe what I'm doing. This is someone I know can kick my ass all over the shop with relative ease, someone I just formed a fragile friendship with…and now I'm confronting her about something. When I thought the relationship would be a little unstable back on Therum, I wasn't wrong… "We're all supposed to be on the same side, here, not avoiding each other because of differences in species!"

"Look, you keep your self-righteous bullshit to yourself, alright?" Ash says impatiently, taking an intimidating step towards me, using her extra height against me. Damn, I wish I was taller for situations like this… "I don't want to talk to her, I'm going to see Kaidan. Got it?" With that, she pushes past my shoulder before I can physically stop her. Instead, I swivel around and use the quote that's been in my mind almost the whole time.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but the content of their character," I say, quietly but forcefully. Ash stops in her tracks, and slowly turns to face me. "It's not exact to this situation," I add, "but I think you can see how it applies, right?"

"Don't you dare quote that at me!" she snarls, moving back towards me. "You think I'm some Terra Firma, xenophobic idiot? I just don't trust the wisdom in letting aliens we barely even know just wandering around an Alliance ship freely!"

"The point still stands!" I say, firmly. "Have you even tried talking to Liara? Looking past the fact she's not our species and seeing what she's actually like?" Ash frowns, taking a step back.

"No, I guess not…"

"Exactly," I continue. "You're right, Ash, you're not a xenophobe. And you're not stupid, either. So give them a chance. It's worked well so far having them on board, after all. I can understand distrust, but if we don't trust each other on the battlefield, people can die." I groan in my mind as I say that, but try not to let it show on my face. Flair for the overdramatic bordering on cheesy indeed…but Ash's face suggests that might actually be what was needed in the situation. I slowly retreat into the lift, reaching for the button down to the garage.

"Ian, I still…"

"Look, I've said my bit," I shrug. "You want to listen or not, it's your call. I know you're not going to go around trying to kill Garrus or anyone, and I'll still be friends with you whatever you decide. But at least think about it, alright?" With that, I stab the button and slam the doors shut before she can say something back, trying to make my exit as epic as possible. Now all I need is the last one minute and thirty seven seconds of the ending song from Green Zone, and it would be perfect…I lean back against the wall of the elevator, sighing deeply.

I hope I don't regret that little outburst. I also hope she doesn't punch me later for it.

#############

"Nu, Wrex!" I shout jovially over to the krogan, who turns to face me, expression the same as always. Slight glare, with a hint of amusement. "Have I got some stories to tell _you!_"

"From your expression, I'm guessing it's something you'll think will impress me," he notes dryly. Wow, he's good. "And what the hell does nu mean?"

"It means hello from the part of Earth I come from," I explain. "North East of England. You ever heard of England?"

Wrex shakes his head. "I've heard of Earth, obviously, but that's about it. Never actually visited the place, I don't know how friendly your homeplanet is to us…"

"Probably depends which country you visited," I shrug. "If you came to Britain, everyone would probably be terrified of you, but too polite to say anything otherwise." Ah, offensive stereotypes directed at myself for the loss, even if it's actually pretty accurate. It beats 'hoo-rah' machismo, anyway…

The krogan just smiles. "That explains a lot about you, then. Your people are too weak to stand up for themselves." I throw my arms up in exasperation.

"Christ, Wrex, I didn't say that! We'd just rather avoid unnecessary conflict…I guess. Actually, that's kind of bullshit…" I think back to the 21st century, to the Middle East conflict that was raging at the time…I wonder how that actually turned out? Describing it as unnecessary is harsh, mind, considering the war on terror had to be fought. The oil was just a bonus, as was the UK getting inv…fuck it, it'll be lost on Wrex anyway, and it's irrelevant now. It was always a topic I was kind of on the fence on anyway. "I'd rather avoid unnecessary conflict myself, anyway."

"And yet you come here with stories undoubtedly filled with gratuitous violence," Wrex chuckles. "Though I'm sure it was all necessary."

"Geth don't respond well to negotiation," I reply. "I can't really do the stories justice with words, mind, you kind of had to be there. Basically, I killed a geth armature with a knife." Wrex, for the first time I think I've ever seen, actually looks surprised. That can only be a good sign.

"Impressive," he nods, facial expression quickly returning to normal. "How did you manage that?"

"Climbed on its back, Tali told me it had a control wire or something on the back of its neck. Sliced it up with the knife. Got a few bruises when it threw me off, but it was worth it. So what, that enough to get rid of my weakness?"

"I won't lie, it takes something to put yourself in danger like that," Wrex says. "You're either brave, or just really damn stupid. Though from talking to you, I'm leaning towards the former." I grin wide when he says that. I'm actually getting praise off Urdnot Wrex…it feels like my life's been leading up to this moment! Well, not really, but still. "So, anything else."

"Yeah," I reply, smiling even wider. "I killed a krogan, actually. Helped to kill him, anyway." Wrex looks a little disappointed.

"So what?" he asks, bluntly. "We must have killed four or so of them on Feros."

"Knifed it again," I wink. "It was a pretty big surprise, actually, to find those head plates of yours actually come off. A nice kind of surprise, though." Wrex's eyes widen, and I catch sight of his hands inching towards the head plate subconsciously before he stops himself. I can relate to that, though, the subconscious can be a real bitch sometimes…

"How the _fuck _did you know how to do that?" Wrex gasps. "Do you know what that means for a krogan if it happens?"

"It doesn't make them happy, that's for sure," I grimace. "Poor guy I did it to was screaming and crying like a baby, killing him felt like a mercy. He deserved it, considering he choked me out and punched Shepard across the room!"

"Whatever, don't go spreading that stuff around," the krogan continues, quickly. "The threat is enough to drive most krogan crazy. It's a sign of masculinity, of respect, and without a head plate you can't head butt anybody. Trust me, in krogan society, that's a big problem. Though the angle to dig a knife under is pretty exact, I think…"

I laugh. "I wasn't being particularly precise. The guy was choking me, I just lunged and got it. Just like peeling an orange. A big, screaming orange."

Wrex nods, actually grinning a bit. "Taking a krogan's plate, Ian…it's too bad you didn't keep it as a trophy."

"I was kind of busy passing out and being rescued by Tali to worry about grabbing a souvenir," I point out. "I'm a little disappointed myself, though. Chakwas apparently had to pull the knife out of my grasp though when I got to the med-bay unconscious, according to part of her report I saw. I was holding onto it like a dead man."

"Even if you didn't keep it, everyone there must have seen you do it," Wrex says. "Most people who are crazy or brave enough to try that on a krogan are dead. You've got a quad on you, Ian." I actually feel a little rush in my stomach when he says that, probably born of happiness. Is that acceptance from Wrex? Who knew it felt so damn _good!_

"Really?" I gasp, and Wrex frowns a little. "I mean, yeah, of course I do," I say, more confidently. Must remember to be more badass, rather than an overexcited child… "It's funny, though, in most cultures saying someone had four testicles would be some kind of insult…but I'll take it how you meant it, of course."

"Even brave people can still be annoying, Ian," Wrex growls, but he's smiling a little as he does so. "Though I suppose if your enemy talks to you first, he won't think you're a threat. Might give you the upper hand."

I raise an eyebrow. "Thanks Wrex, I'll give that a try. You seen Garrus around?"

"He went up the elevator a little while ago to see you, I think," the krogan replies, looking thoughtful. As much as krogan can, anyway. "Hasn't been back since."

"That's odd," I mutter. "He did come up to see me, then he left. Where's Shepard?"

"No idea," Wrex says simply. "Maybe they're in her quarters or something…"

"Whoa Wrex, no, no, NO!" I say quickly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Your obsession with this idea, mate, it's getting weird!"

"Nothing weird about it, I'm right," Wrex chuckles. "Don't tell me you don't think so?" I frown, not wanting to lie…so I just dodge around the question.

"Tali, in that case? Seen her?"

Wrex's eyes brighten a bit. "Still in engineering, as always. What are you after her for?"

"An apology," I sigh. "The armature thing was reckless, to be honest, and she got annoyed because I risked getting myself killed."

"Annoyed?" Wrex asks incredulously. "Something like that on Tuchanka would earn you respect, adoration…and she's annoyed?" He shakes his head. "I don't understand other species sometimes."

"Same here," I frown. "But that's not the point. Got any advice before I go in there?"

Wrex thinks for a second, then looks down at me. "You need to establish dominance, obviously. She's treating you unfairly, and you need to demonstrate that she's wrong."

"Brilliant," I say, sardonically, advancing towards engineering. "That's priceless advice, Wrex."

"Glad you like it," he smiles, and I just sigh. Why does everyone on this ship seem to enjoy winding me up… "I'll talk to you later, Ian. Provided the quarian doesn't kill you, of course. You've already been beaten up by a woman, after all."

"Still got my knife, Wrex!" I call back over my shoulder. "I got lucky the first time, but now I know what I'm aiming for!" That shuts him up, straight away. Zaeed, you're awesome for saying that in ME2. Bloody good thing I downloaded his DLC, actually…if I didn't have Cerberus Network for ME2 back in my original universe, I'd be dead. Saved by a DLC, who would have thought it?

I head to the door through into engineering, but stop just in front of it, thinking about what to say.

"_Tali, I'm really sorry…" _Nope, that sounds too desperate.

"_What's your problem, Tali?" _Too aggressive…

Fuck it, this is one of those situations where thinking it through beforehand really _isn't _going to help. Like the bit in (500) Days of Summer when he goes to her party and the screen splits in half, one his ideal party and one what actually happens…God, that was convoluted, but the point is you can't plan how people are going to react!

I stride towards the door, quickly heading towards Tali. She's engrossed by something on her omni-tool, and doesn't even look over as I approach. The room is empty except for her and I, which is weird, but the other engineers probably went to eat. It's about that time, after all.

"Hey Tali," I say happily, at least trying to start the conversation positively.

"Hi," comes the flat reply. So much for positivity…may as well try and eke some kind of response out of her.

"You're not eating? Garrus just got in those supplies for you two, they're just going to waste…"

She nods. "Maybe I should go and eat. It would end this conversation, after all." I frown and look down, feeling a little crushed. She's really pissed off, and I'm getting a little worried that an apology just isn't going to cut it now…

I look up and into the face mask, locking eyes with the faint outline beneath it despite my instinct screaming at me to look away. "What do you want from me, Tali?" I say quietly. "Everything I did on that mission, every bit of danger, I did it for the good of the squad."

"For the good of the squad?" she asks incredulously, suddenly raising her voice and forcing a finger at my face. "What's the benefit to the squad if you go and get killed?" Her finger's trembling slightly as she talks, but Tali keeps her voice solid. I'm amazed by her confidence, to be honest, considering what I remember from Mass Effect 1…but now's not the time to reflect on the game Tali, rather the real one standing in front of me.

"How many times do I have to say it?" I snap. "That armature was getting closer and closer to hitting one of us! Someone had to act and stop it!"

"And how many times do I have to say it, we could have taken it down anyway!" she shouts back. "No-one had to go and play the hero!"

I shake my head, thinking back to what Rebecca said in my dream. This is a bit of a gamble…I just hope it pays off, and I'm not just having insane, lucid dreams dishing out harmful advice. "It's not just about that, is it?" I look at her body language, trying to get some kind of response, anything! "Is it?"

There's a slight shake of her head, almost unnoticeable, yet I pick up on it. Looks like my dreams aren't crazy, after all… "What if it was Kaidan who'd tried it?" I say, lowering my voice again. "What if it was Ash? Would you have shouted at them, taken offence?" Once again, no response. I move to keep talking…but suddenly, Tali cuts me off mid-sentence.

"No," she says, simply and calmly. "I wouldn't have. Do you know why, Ian? Because I'm being selfish!" Tali's voice begins rising again. "Outside of the Flotilla, on my Pilgrimage, I wandered the galaxy, barely ever staying in one place more than a month. Friends became luxuries, disposable, never put down permanent ties with anyone. Then I come onto this ship, and you talk to me. Not just out of curiosity about quarians, wanting to see what's under the mask, you've got a genuine interest in me, in just talking for the sake of talking. You're the first real friend I've had outside of the Flotilla." She laughs, and it sounds…bitter.

"This ship, this mission…we'll be here all the time. A real friendship, not having to avoid getting to know you because I'd be moving away. I'm such a damn bosh'tet!" Tali continues, furiously. "This happy little idea that we'd all be friends, but this is war! When you charged that armature, I thought that was it. Another friend lost, another memory I'd have to bury and leave behind." She turns to look at me, voice wavering slightly. "You were acting in the squad's best interest…but not mine, and that's why I got so angry." She folds her arms, slouching slightly. "I didn't want to lose a friend."

I take a step back, staggered. I never even realised what friendship was like for her…but it all makes sense, from the nature of the Pilgrimage. Damn, the quarians who undertake it must be some of the loneliest people in the galaxy… "Tali, I had no idea it meant so much to you…"

"It must sound so weird to you, I know," she mutters. "For you, real friendship is commonplace. Look at you and Garrus! That's the kind of thing I could have only hoped for on my Pilgrimage, before I came here."

"What, you don't think Garrus has put himself in danger the whole time we've been friends?" I ask. "You don't think I've done the same for him? I took a bullet for him, Tali, I almost died! Did that make us any less friendly?" She shakes her head. "Nobody likes seeing their friends in danger, Tali, but you have to trust them. Everyone on this mission knows the risk, that each time we go out, it could be our last, but that doesn't stop us from being close!" I sigh, feeling slightly annoyed that I'm slipping back into cheesy territory again…but I may as well finish what I started. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for charging in like I did, Tali. I should have listened to you."

"Thank you," she replies. "It means a lot to hear you say that. But you're right, I know what this mission means, and we need to take risks. I'm sorry for getting angry."

"Ah, forget about it," I say. "You had your reasons. And for the record, it's nice to know you care." She looks a little taken aback when I say that…shit, that must have sounded so damn flirtatious. No, no, that's not what I meant!

"Same here," she replies, sounding surprised. "We are still friends, right?"

"Only if you promise not to freak out every time I get in danger," I grin, reaching out a hand for her to shake. "Still give me covering fire, mind, but…"

"We have to take risks in this line of work. I know," she says, sounding a lot happier and shaking my hand. "I'm glad we got that out of the way, I almost missed our chats?"

"What do you mean, almost?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "I take offence to- " Suddenly, there's a whooshing noise as the door slides open, and Garrus and Shepard both hurry into the room, breathless. Christ, I really hope they haven't come straight from her quarters…

"What's up?" I ask. Garrus looks at me, serious expression on his face, and Shepard looks at the floor a little shyly. Oh God…

"The codes just came through with Saleon's location," he says. "We're on course now. Get your weapons and armour."

"You don't need to tell me," I snarl, all happy thoughts of apologies and friendship gone. "I'll get my stuff, meet me up by the airlock." With that, Garrus, Shepard and I head to the door.

"Wait!" Tali says, grabbing my arm. "What's going on? Who's Saleon?"

"An old acquaintance of mine," I mutter, thoughts veering back to Rebecca. "He kidnapped my girlfriend back during my time at C-Sec, Garrus and I have been trying to track him down ever since."

"Keelah…" Tali gasps. "That's terrible…do you want me to come with you for back-up?"

"Thanks," I frown, "but no thanks. This is something personal."

Tali's body language suggests worry. "What is it?"

I head to the door, turning to look at her as it opens.

"Payback."

**A/N: In case it wasn't obvious, next chapter it's finally time to confront Saleon. Time to discover if Rebecca is still alive. The mission will be switched around a little bit though…all I'm saying is it won't be boring husks the team's fighting this time around.**

**Alright, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next chapter!**


	18. Ian vs The Truth

Chapter 18

Build Up – Biffy Clyro: The Conversation Is…

Action - Dead Space Soundtrack: Severed Limbs are Hazardous Waste

Discovery and Confrontation – Hans Zimmer: Time

**A/N: A lot of tracks there, so you might want to open a few YouTube windows for them before you start reading, hahaha. I strongly recommend you listen to the last one at the relevant point, though.**

**The moment we've been building up to for quite some time, the truth finally revealed. I won't waste any more of your time with this, so let's get to it!**

I storm into the elevator, slamming a fist into the button for the CIC and fidgeting with both pistols as it slowly begins to ascend, hands shaking slightly as it does. For months I've been waiting for this moment, months turning possibilities over and over in my head…and now it's finally here, I'm not sure what to feel. Trepidation over what I'm going to find is rife in my mind, but a slight hope also blooms, that Rebecca and I will be reunited. Anger at Saleon burns through even that, though, the desire for revenge strong, something I've never really felt before…

I shake my head, trying to clear my mind. I'm no good to Rebecca dead because I couldn't concentrate on the battle, though the sudden surge of anger worries me. I'm normally calm, collected, Garrus is the one who lets his emotions control him sometimes rather than his head…but when I get to Saleon, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to control myself, what I do. What if I give in to rage…he deserves it, absolutely no doubt, but is that the beginning of something I'm not going to be able to turn away from?

The elevator finally arrives at the top floor, and I walk quickly out, practically breaking into a run as I get to the stairs. It's damn fortunate we were passing extremely close to Saleon's location as we headed towards an Alliance base to receive yet another Mako…Joker's ETA is just under ten minutes, now that I've finally managed to get my gear together, which took way too long because of the state I'm in. I breathe in deeply, trying to get my emotions in check. Rebecca needs to me calm, not out of control. As does the rest of the squad. If Saleon's getting to me this much, changing my personality, he's already won half the fight. I'm not letting that happen.

Garrus gives me a stern nod as I stride up towards him and Shepard, the Commander's eyes downcast as I approach.

"Has Garrus told you everything you need to know?" I ask, surprising myself with how angry my voice sounds when I talk, and I resolve to rein it in. Shepard's not the one I'm angry at…it's not necessary to talk like that. Not yet, anyway.

"I think so," she sighs, checking her pistol and looking up at me. "Dr. Saleon, changed his name to Dr. Heart on his escape from the Citadel."

"Sick bastard…" Garrus mutters, and I nod solemnly next to him. How monsters like him are created, what makes someone like Saleon…I don't think I'll ever understand it, and I don't think I really want to.

"He escaped with Rebecca, Ian, and we're going there to get her back," Shepard says firmly, sliding the pistol back into its holster. "I promise you, we'll find her, and then bring Saleon to justice."

"We might have varying definitions of justice," I mutter, "but thank you, Shepard. For helping us here, when you don't have to."

"You're my crew," she smiles. "And this Saleon is a menace to the galaxy, as far as I'm concerned. Exactly the kind of person the Spectres were created to deal with. Both you and Garrus brought this to my attention, and I don't ignore my crew. Especially when it's on such a personal level for you," Shepard continues, looking at me. "Neither of you had to join me, but you did it anyway. Least I can do is help you back."

I get a little warm feeling inside, breaking through the clouds of anger in my mind. Shepard, Garrus…I've got a whole crew who care about me here, care about each other. "Whatever the case," Garrus says, "we owe you one. Saleon's gonna have hell to pay once we catch up with him." I catch a glimmer of worry on Shepard's face when he says that…which disappears almost as soon as it came onto her face. Normally I'd be a little concerned about Garrus's attitude, but right now I'm almost feeling the same way myself.

"We're closing in now, Commander!" Joker says, looking over his shoulder as Saleon's ship comes into view in front of us. My hands clench tightly into fists at the sight, but I try to keep my face stony and impassive, despite the feelings eating away at me. Doubt, anger…fear.

Garrus reaches over his shoulder to check the sniper rifle's in place, pistol firmly attached to his hip. I do the same with my gear, sense of foreboding getting even greater the closer we get to Saleon's ship.

"_Maybe you're already too late," _Rebecca's voice echoes around my head, and I wince hearing it. I can't be too late…I know she's not dead. It's something I thought since she got taken, but it can't be. I just have to find her. It's not a matter of I'll try, or I might…I will find her. It's the condition that she's in when I do that worries me the most.

I take a step back from the airlock, shutting my eyes slightly as the image of the half skulled face comes back. This isn't the fucking time! I need my wits about me, not all over the place like this, feeling down.

"Hey," a flanging voice says next to me, and I feel a talon being rested lightly on my shoulder. "You okay?" I look up at Garrus's concerned face, and the depressed feeling just begins to drain away. If Garrus is here, I can do it. Ugh, that was cheesy…but it's true. We've always pulled through, somehow, and I can use that. God, the sheer amount of conflicting emotions…I'm feeling more angsty than the last three Harry Potter books, and that's saying something…

"Fine, just worried. About what's waiting for us in there. What we're going to find." I shake my head. "I've been building up to this moment for so long now…and I'm not even sure if she's alive anymore."

"Don't say that," he replies, mandibles widening a bit in concern. "She'll be there, I promise." I nod, but it really doesn't feel particularly committed as the Fedele looms closer and closer. I'm not really sure what to think, truth be told.

Joker looks over at us again, grimace on his face. Normally I'd expect some kind of one-liner or joke from the pilot, but Shepard must have told him what's going on because he's actually being pretty damn serious. Well, that's novel… "Thirty seconds to contact, Commander. Good luck out there. All of you." With that, he's back to the controls, awkward expression on his face as he does so. He never was much of a people person, from his own admission if I remember ME2 well enough…

Shepard looks at me, reassuring smile on her face. "This is it, then."

"Yep," I mutter back, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice but finding it falls flat. Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me! I should be feeling on top of the world that the chance to rescue Rebecca is here, yet something's got me worried, the unshakable feeling this isn't going to have a happy ending… "Yep," I repeat, this time with more commitment, even forcing a little smile onto my face. "I can't believe we're finally here. After all this time, I might get to see her again."

"No might about it," Shepard says firmly, looking me in the eye. "You'll see her again. Just be your usual, overly-optimistic self, Ian, and we'll be fine." I can't help chuckling at that, just as we connect to the Fedele with a loud bang, and the airlock door control changes from red to green.

I step forward, placing one hand on the control panel. "If you insist, Shepard," I say firmly. "Let's do this, then. I'd like to have her back on here for dinner."

"That's the spirit," the Commander grins, and we head through into the airlock, agonising wait to be released onto the other ship beginning.

#######

The sight on the airlock's doors opening immediately puts me on edge and reaching for a pistol, setting off every single one of my various paranoid instincts as I look around. The corridor ahead is almost completely darkened, only one flickering light up ahead occasionally dimly lighting up the space below it. Okay, what the fuck is going on? Saleon's ship was never homely, but the current atmosphere wouldn't be out of place in the Spencer mansion from Resident Evil…

"He's got an interesting idea of interior design," Garrus mutters, reaching for his weapon as well. "We're going to need omni-tool lights."

I curse silently as I fiddle with mine. Looks like dual pistols are out, at least for now…bright light explodes from where my palm is, almost blinding. Looks like Tali's upgrade might have been a little _too _effective…I lower the brightness slightly, sweeping the area with the light as Shepard and Garrus follow suit. My heart's in my mouth as we do so, half expecting the light to fall on Rebecca's corpse…fortunately, there's nothing. Still hope.

Shepard shakes her head as we advance towards the door at the far side of the corridor, which if memory serves leads into the room filled with husks…my grip tightens on the pistol. No way those bastards are gonna catch me off guard, and any who try are gonna regret it, given my current mood. "This place doesn't feel right," she says, as we reach the door and take up positions either side of it. "He'll have been able to see us coming just by looking out of a window, and the only obstacle he's placed in our way is bad lighting."

"He's a cunning bastard," I spit. "He'll probably be trying to lull us into a false sense of security or something. This ship isn't that big…so if there's resistance, it's gonna be through here." That should give Shepard sufficient warning without actually blowing my cover…near to my back, an air vent whirs away, low droning sound filling the room and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. This place is freaking me out really bad, the atmosphere combined with the fear of what we might find…

"False sense of security isn't going to work on us," Garrus growls. "The smaller the ship, the better. Means we'll get to deal with him sooner."

Shepard frowns at the turian. "Save it for when we get there," she says simply, reaching for the door panel. "Get ready, I'm gonna open it." With that, she jabs the button with a finger and the door slides open. I dash through, pistol up, light pointing straight ahead…and pointing straight at a storage container. I lower the pistol slightly, glancing around. This seems like a similar sort of open area to what I remember, except it's been filled with crates, forming some kind of artificial corridor. The room's filled with air vents, the whirring reaching a crescendo in here…yeah, I've got a terrible feeling about this.

"I'll check ahead," I whisper, stalking forward lightly on the balls of my feet as Shepard and Garrus follow slowly, doing the same. I spin around the first corner, pistol readied…and nothing's there. Okay, I can't complain…but where are all the husks? Saleon must have known we were coming, must have had time to do something…I approach the second corner, readying myself to peek around…

When out of nowhere, with a terrible scream, some fleshy beast hurls itself at me from around the corner, arms grabbing me around the waist as two razor sharp blades that seem to be protruding from it's back raise high in the air to strike down, fanged jaws snapping at my face! With a yell of fear, I stumble back, just managing to get a hand up to block the teeth. I'm powerless to stop the blades, though, which hammer into my armour at tremendous speed and knock the wind out of me, screeching sound reverberating around the room as they leave a dent. I'm fine now, but another hit is gonna pierce through, and it's preparing another blow…

A series of shots come from nearby, and the beast's head comes flying off, causing its grip to loosen and letting me shove it off, backpedalling as fast as I can and still gasping with shock. "Holy fuck on a fuck sandwich!" I yell, terror filling up inside me as I look down at the…thing, quivering on the floor in front of me. That can't be…the blades from the back, the whole face and look…

With a screech that somehow escapes its headless body, the creature suddenly stands again…and starts stepping towards me, slowed but definitely not dead. Oh my God…

Saleon created necromorphs.

Garrus and Shepard frantically blast away at its chest, to seemingly no avail…but I know the horrifying truth. I quickly line up my sights, one shot blowing away the right claw…the second harmlessly missing the left, but the third taking it off and sending the necromorph to the floor, where it gradually spasms…then stops, dead. I gasp in breath, body suddenly feeling ice cold from the shock of being grabbed. What the…how the fuck did he make these?

"By the spirits…" Garrus mutters, looking absolutely astounded. "What the hell is that?"

"I…I don't know," Shepard finally replies, as the whirring of the air vents suddenly comes back into focus in my ears. Hold on a second, air vents…and right on cue, there's a series of crashes from all around us as the vents explode outwards…and even more of the bastards crawl through. I catch around ten or so as I swivel around, all roaring and screaming as they begin their movement towards us, most walking…but two charging straight at us from on top of the storage containers! Fuck, we're completely boxed in! Literally!

"Guys!" I yell above the din the creatures are causing, quickly shooting out the legs of one of the necromorphs coming for us. "Go for the limbs! That seems to be what takes them down, not body shots!"

"Roger that!" Shepard yells back, switching her shots to limbs, sending a biotic blast in Garrus's direction to push the advancing forces back. The one I downed pulls itself up onto its claws while I look away…and takes a swipe at me which I barely see coming, just managing to jump backwards out of the way and stomping on the offending limb, severing it and killing the offending necromorph with a satisfying crunch. Another approaches from behind, but I lash out my foot in a furious kick, catching it in the chest and stumbling it backwards.

There's a feminine yelp from nearby, and I swivel to see a necromorph grab Shepard from behind…and Garrus quickly punch it off, look of total fury in the turian's eyes, as he proceeds to stomp the shit out of the necromorph and it's little more than a quivering mess. A roar from right next to me brings me rudely back to the situation at hand, as does a blade scraping across my armour, getting through slightly and drawing blood. Ah, shit!

I kick its legs out, but the other blade catches my face as it goes down, scratching my face. I can feel the warm blood running down my face…and for some reason, it sets my fury out, almost uncontrollably. I reach out with hands that don't even feel like mine, grabbing one blade and wrenching it off, swinging through with it and lopping off the necromorph's head with it. I turn, breathing heavily, vision tinged slightly red and searching for my next target…

Shepard uses stasis on a necromorph leaping at me, something I don't catch until too late, and the anger suddenly just dies in my chest, and I stare stupidly at the blade clutched in my hand. Shit, what did I just do…what the hell just happened to me?

I cast it aside and grab my pistol again, blasting off the top limbs of one of the few remaining while Garrus takes the bottom half. Out of the ten that started, just two now remain…and since one's safely in stasis, all three of us combine forces to take the one moving. Shepard picks it up biotically, letting Garrus and I take precision shots at the limbs and dropping the corpse to the floor. The frozen one gradually beings moving again…and it's met with a wall of shots nothing could hope to survive, literally exploding into a bloody mess. Just like that, silence descends onto the ship once again, save for the heavy breathing from all of us.

Combined with a sudden gasp from Shepard, as she looks over at me. "Jesus Christ, Ian, what the hell happened to you?"

Eh? "What do you mean?"

Garrus looks worried as well, mandibles widening. "Have you seen your hand? Can you not feel that?"

I bring up the hand I was holding the blade in…and it's awash with blood, my entire palm cut open from holding the unnatural weapon. As soon as I look at it, it begins to sting furiously…thankfully, just as my suit applies the medi-gel to cool it down. I just completely lost it there, succumbed to rage…and it numbed me out. Shit, that can't be good…

I frown, pretending it's nothing serious. Don't want to freak anyone out… "It's fine, must have just caught it on one of those bastard necromorphs."

"What?" Shepard asks, raising an eyebrow. "What did you just call them?" Oh, fuck! I should _not _have said that!

"Necromorphs," I finally stammer. "They were these mythic sci-fi creatures…they were on Earth, anyway. I thought they were just bogeymen to scare kids, though, not real things…"

Garrus's mandibles droop. "Nothing fake about these," he says, sadly, inspecting the closest corpse. "Completely mutated, you can't even tell what species they belonged to."

The rage begins to fire up inside me again, but I quash it quickly. "Saleon…" I hiss.

"If he's capable of creating things like this," Shepard mutters. "We've got to stop him. Right now though, all we can do is just push forward. Rebecca's got to be around here somewhere." As the Commander says that, I frantically scan the necromorph corpses. Oh God, I hope we didn't shoot her…I can't think that, just got to push forward. I let Garrus take the lead this time, the turian striding ahead down the maze of containers, pistol up and ready.

The air vents have stopped their noise now, presumably broken by the necromorphs…which is a small mercy. At least that's one less route for them to come from, and hopefully that was the last of them anyway. This corridor is going to end up at Saleon's quarters, I'm betting…and Rebecca. I'm praying. Garrus puts his back to a shipping container, light coming from the area up ahead. Presumably Saleon left his own electricity supply on…

"We're almost there," the turian whispers. "Ian, get on the container opposite me, quickly!" I dash across, quickly peeking through the gaps in our containers into a wider, more open area with a door on the far side of it…and a feminine figure crouched on the floor in the middle of it. Feminine figure…

Rebecca.

"Rebecca!" I yell, bringing the torch light upwards and dashing towards the figure, sliding to it on my knees and grabbing her by the shoulders. "Oh my God, you're alright, you're okay…" I lift the head up…and stagger back in shock.

Half her face is still there, half the body…but the face is torn on one half, the skin colour changed to deathly pale, the skin stretched gaunt and the beginnings of blades protruding from her back. Instead of the cry of relief to see me, the warm reunion…instead all I get is small moan as she rises to her feet, human part of her face completely vacant and dead.

Oh fuck, no.

No, no, no…

"_You're too late…" _the skull chants in my mind, mocking me as I sink to my knees. _"Too late, too late…"_ I look up at the figure stood in front of me, half mutated…and the tears begin to fog my vision.

"Rebecca?" I say, searching the face for any sign of recognition. I get none. "Rebecca! Can you hear me? Rebecca! REBECCA!" The husk just looks at me…and takes one slow step forward, mouth stretched back in a seemingly endless moan, clawed hands outstretched. No, not like this…not after all this time, where I'd convinced myself she was alive…

Looking down at my pistol holster, the tears flow freely now as I reach for the handle. That's not true. I thought I'd convinced myself she was still alive…but the moment she was taken, a part of me, however small, had known the truth. I'd tried to cling to hope, to irrationality, but the knowledge had been there. Part of me had already moved on.

I unholster the pistol, weighing it in my hand and inspecting it closely. The husk-Rebecca takes another step forward, still making its horrible noise, and I bring the pistol up, looking the human part of her square in the eye, tears still on the outside of my vision. I didn't want to cry…but there's no cure. To become a necromorph, she has to start dead. That's what she is. No coming back.

"I love you, Rebecca," I say, choking on the tears. "I always did. You should have known that when you died, I should have been there for you…and if any part of you is still in there, forgive me. For everything." For not telling you about Saleon with my knowledge, for not protecting you when I should have…but I can't say that out loud, not with Garrus and Shepard around.

Aim the sight squarely at her head, I inspect the face one last time. The transformation stage so early a headshot is still going to do the job. My hand shakes as I line it up, the memories flashing back through my head, the rooftop, the first time we met…and I find the gun lowering in my hand as I do, as I remember what we had.

The necromorph lets out a sudden roar, claws still outstretched, and suddenly charges at me. I stand stock still, and look in the dead eye. No recognition.

The times we had are gone. She's gone.

"Goodbye, Rebecca," I say softly, and I bring the pistol up, breaking eye contact and looking down at the floor.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

I barely feel my finger pulling the trigger three times, almost unable to bring my eyes up as I hear her fall soundlessly to the floor, but doing it anyway, as the corpse of the woman I loved, the monster she became, finally lies to rest on the floor.

I drop to my knees, look up at the roof and let out a howl. A howl of anguish, sorrow, pain that leaves me empty as I kneel there. Then the edges of my vision begin to redden again, and once name and face fills my mind.

Saleon.

My head snaps back up, and I rise to my feet, storming towards the door into his quarters.

"Ian! What are you doing?" Shepard asks desperately, but I ignore her anyway and head through the door, hearing her and Garrus's footsteps behind me. Small walk up the corridor, turn to the right…I press the door's control, striding through…and there he is. The salarian, face twisted in a sick grin, looking straight at me.

"Did you find your girlfriend, then?"

I lose it. Control of my body, my mind, everything. It's like an out of body experience, as I watch myself approach Saleon, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing, my face completely emotionless, pulling back my right arm and slamming a fist into his stomach over and over, then pushing him to the floor and repeatedly punching him in the face, red in the vision growing more and more intense…

Then I feel strong hands grabbing me under the arms and pulling me off, and my mind rushes back into my body, leaving me staring into the face of Shepard. And she's pissed.

"Cool it!" she yells at me. "Are you even sure this is him?" My vision gradually returns to normal…but the anger remains, simmering away below the surface.

"I'm certain," I spit, reaching for my pistol and pointing it straight at him. Thankfully, Shepard doesn't move to stop me. "Like hell am I forgetting the face of the person who killed my girlfriend."

"You never got to use that ring, huh?" Saleon asks mockingly, staggering back up to his feet, bleeding from his face but still with a huge grin on his face. "And technically, I didn't kill her. You were the one who shot her, after all." I pull my arm back for another punch, fully conscious of what I'm doing this time, but Shepard grabs my arm silently as I try it.

"You motherfucker," I growl. "You killed her. You murdered everyone on this ship, and I'm going to make you pay. By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna wish you had a soul to sell."

"Wish we had time to harvest your organs first," Garrus snarls at him, ramming his pistol muzzle in the doctor's face. "Too bad we're busy already."

"You're both crazy," Saleon says, beginning to sound a little concerned. "I don't know if she's your commanding officer, but she's got to know you're off the rails! Stop them!"

"Don't insult the Commander's intelligence!" Garrus snaps. "Everyone here knows what you've done!"

Shepard frowns deeply at the turian and I, opens her mouth…and sighs. "Ian, Garrus, stand down."

Both of us turn to look at her in shock, my mouth hanging wide open in shock. Saleon hasn't even bothered denying who he is, and she wants us to stand down? "Shepard, what the fuck?" I ask, inhibitions completely gone. "He murdered Rebecca! He killed so many people, and you want us to _stand down?_"

"You kill him, we'll never know what he's managed to accomplish, or how he's done it," Shepard says darkly. "We can take him to the military, interrogate him…then lock him up for the rest of his life. I'm not doing this out of any kind of sympathy for him," she continues, shooting a furious look at Saleon, "but we can't just waste this."

"We already know what he's done!" I shout, Saleon's face suddenly becoming worried as I take a step towards him, pistol outstretched. "Those things we fought are what he's accomplished, what he made her into! The only thing that's going to get wasted here is the opportunity to cause this bastard the amount of pain he's inflicted on everyone else. Quick death like this is too good for him." I steady the pistol, pointing it directly in Saleon's terrified face as he realises his gambit isn't paying off. Squirm, you fucker…

Shepard's eyebrow furrow as she looks searchingly at me, then Garrus. "Listen to yourself, Ian! You're one of the most rational people on board the Normandy, and you're letting rage take you over! If you start doing this, where does it end? When you take revenge instead of doing what's right?"

I look down the sight of my gun at Saleon's head, the urge to pull the trigger strong within me…but Shepard's words work their way into my brain. He killed, murdered, people, killed Rebecca…he's ruthless, heartless. Saleon wouldn't hesitate to shoot his nemesis standing in front of him right now.

But I'm not Saleon. This whole mission, something's been bothering me…and it's been my emotions. At first, I didn't know what made people like Saleon, but now I do. Those who don't listen to their heads, and let anger and revenge control them. I'm not one of those people.

"I won't become you, even after all you've done," I finally say, slowly lowering the gun. "You're a monster, killing indiscriminately, a law unto yourself. I have my humanity, my compassion, and no matter what else you take from me, you'll never take that. We're going to get every last drop of information from you, then leave you to rot and throw away the key. But I'm not going to become driven by revenge. It's not what Rebecca would want. It's not what I want." With that, I point the pistol at the ground, the anger just replaced with a terrible sadness again. Killing Saleon isn't going to bring her back…a bullet's too good for him.

"Save me the self-righteous lecture," he smirks sarcastically. "The broken hero, holding on to the last shred of his precious 'humanity'. How bloody pathetic." Saleon starts backpedalling, reaching for the gun I can see next to him on his desk…when there's a loud bang from next to me, and Saleon drops to the floor, clutching at his now bloody kneecap and screaming in pain. Garrus stands next to me, arm outstretched and smoking pistol held firmly in his talon.

Saleon begins to crawl backwards…but there's no way I'm letting him get away. I walk up to him, grabbing him by the head, fully control of my actions now, and reach back my hand with the handgun in it.

"He's crazy, Commander!" he shouts, one last ditch effort to escape. I glance back at Shepard, who just gives me a nod. Saleon turns his attention back to me, frantically talking. "She died as soon as she came onto the ship, you know. You've been chasing a ghost for months!" he says, finally losing it and giggling hysterically. I'm not going to be controlled by rage. But he totally deserves what's coming to him right now.

"I'm not interested in your bullshit!" I yell, then uppercut him as hard as I can in the jaw, rocking his neck back and sending him hurtling backwards, where he hits the floor and lies still, still breathing lightly and unconscious. It's a hell of a lot better than the bastard deserves.

Shepard is staring at me as I turn around, and I can't say I blame her. The anger at Saleon begins to die away, and once again I'm left with the feeling of loss, sadness, even if part of me knew it was coming…my eyes begin to moisten again, but I hold it back. "Ian…" she says softly. "Are you alright?"

I shake my head, barely even looking at her and Garrus as I head for the door, just wanting to get to the Normandy, to deal with it as best as I can. Right now, I just want to be alone.

"No," I finally reply. "But thanks for asking."

**A/N: There we have it. Some of you probably saw this coming, others didn't…but Rebecca is gone.**

**Next chapter will be the aftermath, meaning more crew interactions and stuff…but you might have to wait a little bit longer for that, because I put school stuff on hold to finish this chapter. Which now means I've got to catch up. You get the idea.**

**350 reviews is phenomenal, by the way. Thanks to everyone for that, for being the best fans a guy could ask for, and for reading so consistently. It's a joy to write, and I hope it's the same to read.**

**Until next time…**


	19. Ian vs The Detachment

Chapter 19

Fascinoma: I'm Walking This Road Because You Stole My Car

**A/N: So, after the emotional suckerpunch of last chapter, we have to deal with the aftermath. (Sighs). I hate emotional bits. Especially bloody angst. So forgive me if I try and get this out of the way, I'm not a particularly angsty person. As will probably be reflected in this chapter, hahaha. The resolution is to offer about 2,000 words to dealing with it, then (mostly) business as usual. That's how I roll, and this is a self-insert…you see what I mean.**

**Enjoy!**

I check the omni-tool's music display, quickly flicking through my song library for something suitable for how I'm feeling. 'I'm Walking this Road' immediately springs to mind, so I scroll to that, start it playing and fall back onto the bed as the melancholy intro begins. It's ironic that the music I heard on an American Dad episode is being used when I'm down, I suppose…

Cry, Ian. Let it out.

I lie there staring up at the roof, blinking slowly…nothing happening. I'm still feeling little pangs of sadness and anger from the mission, but the main thing I've got going is a massive ache in my hand from uppercutting Saleon. What the hell is wrong with me? I just shot my girlfriend, let the person who murdered her live…and nothing. Not even a tear after the mission. Just stony silence and a massive urge to be alone.

Sighing deeply, I heave myself up onto my elbows. The sleeping quarters are empty, thank Christ, considering conversation with the crew is honestly the last thing I need right now. Getting my emotions sorted, that's a much bigger issue.

I've never been really big on crying, or bemoaning the events of the past…hell, I barely even thought about my family when I got here, which raises a little pang of guilt in the pit of my stomach. Since Shiara physically brought me here, I'll have completely disappeared in their world…shit, they probably think I'm dead now, given how long it's been. I never even gave it a second thought.

Crap, am I really this emotionally detached? I fall back again, sighing deeply. My mind's just drifting off the thought of Rebecca already, and it's only been an hour or so since the mission actually ended. Saleon got brought onboard alive, placed in the holding cells I didn't even know we had, as did the body of Rebecca. I think we're going to give her a funeral when I'm ready…but I'm not. Not until I get hold of this.

Part of me knows why this is happening, why I can't feel sad, why I'm not in tears like a normal person would be at the moment. I'd already moved on, or at least part of me had. It's what let me shoot the necromorph Rebecca back on the Fedele. All the tears I had to shed were spent when she got taken by Saleon, because I subconsciously knew that was it. I'd managed to deceive myself into thinking she was alive afterwards…or I thought I had. Clearly not.

I punch the pillow next to me, not getting the kick out of it I was expecting. Angsty heroes in films always punch walls and shit…but I'm not sure that's really going to help matters. Especially considering my fist hurts already. Maybe this is just what I'll have to do. Repress the emotions and just move on, never actually deal with it. I don't really want to do that, though, having demons from your past following you around is never good. I've already got enough of them to deal with by lying to the crew about my origins.

That said, I don't even have a choice about it, considering I literally can't get it all out of the way now. Fuck, why does this all have to be so damn complex! I want to let it all out, yet my mind has other ideas. I stare down at the floor, frowning. I'm stuck in a sort of emotional limbo, where part of me had already gotten over it and part is still reeling from what happened, what we found on the Fedele. And it's really pissing me off!

The music hits a chorus, the music blaring loud, and I just settle back on the bed again. Maybe I just need some sleep, that could wind out all the problems…until a tap on the shoulder makes me jump and whirl around, to see Garrus standing next to me, smiling awkwardly.

"Hey," he says nervously. "I hope I'm not, erm…interrupting anything." Reaching for my omni-tool, I quickly stop the music and can't help smiling a little bit. Talking to most of the crew would have pissed me off, but Garrus is the exception. I'm kind of glad he came down, to be honest.

"No, just trying some self-therapy," I laugh bitterly, gesturing for him to sit down on the bed next to me. "Apparently sad music and being alone isn't enough to deal with losing the woman I loved."

"Loved?" Garrus comments. "Past tense already? You've moved on quick." I feel a little flash of anger when he says that, but it dies away almost as fast as it came. It is true, after all…

"Not completely," I sigh. "I'm trying to get there, though. I haven't cried or really felt sad since the mission finished, and it's beginning to get to me, you know? I'm feeling annoyed now, more than anything." Garrus's mandibles droop a little. "Not because of you, mate," I say quickly, which causes him to perk up again, "just annoyed with myself more than anything."

"You shouldn't be," he says, trying to reassure me. "These things take time. My mother's death…that wasn't easy to get over. My father, he still hasn't. No-one on the ship is expecting you to be ready for duty just like that. Shepard told everyone to give you room and time."

"She told everyone?" Garrus nods. "Damn, I wish she hadn't…"

The turian looks confused when I say that. "What? Why?"

"Now the whole damn ship probably thinks I'm some kind of charity case," I mutter. "I appreciate the thought and all that…but I don't want the crew and that thinking I'm emotionally unstable or something."

Garrus shakes his head, smiling a bit. "They don't. Shepard made it abundantly clear you're a valuable asset to the squad and the ship, and that you're just taking some time to grieve before you get back to work. Nobody thinks any less of you, and Shepard said you wouldn't want everyone saying they were 'sorry for your loss' whenever you walked past."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

Garrus chuckles. "I guess. I think people would be more concerned if you didn't take some time to grieve, to be honest."

"Well, I'm doing a pretty shit job of it," I sigh. "Nothing so far since the mission finished. I haven't even cried, or anything. It's not like I'm trying to mangst it out, I actually want to do this. Without trying to sound like a whiny, indecisive, bastard."

"You're not doing a very good job," Garrus points out. I laugh a little bit. "Seriously though, what do you think's stopping you from doing that?"

"What, you're my psychiatrist now?" I ask jokingly. "If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Did you ever think she was dead, Garrus?" I ask, the thought suddenly coming into my head. Garrus looks pretty uncomfortable about the question…which is fair enough. "Be honest, mate, I won't mind."

"Truthfully, yeah, I did," he finally sighs. "We saw what Saleon had done on the Citadel, and I didn't see why she'd be spared. Didn't stop me wanting to believe it, though, and you got so convinced about saving her I couldn't really bring myself to say otherwise. With might have been a mistake, in hindsight."

"You could have told me, you know," I say. "I had my doubts about her being there, to be honest."

"Which you covered up," Garrus points out. "You were just a shell when she got taken, for like a month. It worried me, so I figured some kind of hope was better than nothing, even if there was nothing to base it on."

I feel like I should be angry that Garrus betrayed me by lying or something…but I can't bring myself to be angry with the turian. If he hadn't done what he did, I'd probably have never picked myself up again after her kidnap. That said, the false hope is apparently fucking with my mind now, so it's not all rainbows and daisies… "You're right, I wouldn't have listened to you if you said she was dead anyway," I sigh. "Still doesn't explain why I'm emotionally blocked, though."

The turian shakes his head patiently. "You're probably stuck in denial about it, torn between moving on and not wanting to let go. That would make sense, anyway."

I raise an eyebrow. Garrus never seemed the sensitive type, and he's pretty much just read my mind right there! "That's a bold conclusion to come to," I reply. "What makes you think that?"

"Had exactly the same thing myself," he says, shaking his head a little. "My mother was diagnosed with her disease a few months before she died, they told us pretty much point-blank it was terminal. I know that I accepted she was dead then a little, already moved on…but I still loved her, and it was almost like waiting to find out she was dead. When she finally did pass away, spirits bless her, it still felt like I was waiting for something. It was a shock when I found out she'd died, but I'd become so used to waiting for the discovery it was a struggle to accept it and move on. Like I said before, my father still hasn't managed it."

I'm properly intrigued now. Garrus really doesn't like to talk about his past much, not like that, and he might actually know how to get me out of this rut… "How'd you manage, then?" I ask. "To get out of it?"

"It was simple, in the end," the turian replies, slowly, sounding like he's carefully choosing his words. "You end up realising you can't spend the rest of your life just hanging onto something that doesn't actually exist anymore. Life's too short to wait for long, even for asari. You realise there's something more out there than what you had, as well. For me, I didn't want to end up like father. I wanted to do something worthwhile, without ghosts dragging me back down." He smiles apologetically. "That must sound like a load of rubbish to you."

"God, no," I reply softly. Of all the people to sort me out, it was Garrus, the nervous and occasionally psychotic turian…something worthwhile. I've got friends on this ship, a job to do here, some greater calling to discover I don't even understand yet…and I can't do that with something dead holding me back. "I never really even got to say goodbye to the real her, you know…" I say, the sadness suddenly flooding in and filling me head to toe.

"This will do," Garrus smiles, obviously pleased his work is done and rising off the bed. "I'll give you some space. We're all upstairs when you're ready."

"Thanks, man," I sniff, my thoughts drawn back to Rebecca for one last time. With that, Garrus slowly walks out of the room, and I fall back upon the bed, the tears finally flowing. The memories start flooding back, the times we had on the Citadel, her in the hospital, the surprise party when I got out…memories of her I have to let go.

"It's hard to say goodbye," I whisper, to no-one in particular, then just shut my eyes and let the memories in.

#########

I blearily open my eyes, blinking rapidly as I gradually come back to my sense, staring up at the roof. I'm still feeling a little bit sad…but I'm past it now. All the memories taken and individually dealt with, not quite forgotten but sealed away for now. Rebecca was always so upbeat anyway, she'd have hated me to just be wallowing in misery…and I'd have hated it myself. Might be hard to say goodbye, but it's got to be done.

I roll my head to the side slightly, looking at the clock on my left. 6:34pm on the artificial ship-time…Jesus, I've been asleep for two hours! That can't be good. Shit, I hope everyone upstairs isn't getting concerned or anything…

"Oh," a familiar voice says next to me, sounding rather shy through the mask. "You're awake. That's good."

I jump about a foot into the air and roll over again…to see Tali staring down at me. Eh? When did she get here? "How long have you been here?" I ask, pushing myself up on the bed as the quarian nervously wrings her hands together.

"About half an hour," she replies. "You were asleep, and I thought I should leave, but then I thought you wouldn't want to wake up and be alone after what happened…and…well…damn, I didn't mean to bring it up this quick," she sighs. "Should I just go?"

I shake my head, chuckling a little bit. She gets flustered so easily, it's kind of cute…plus she actually cares enough to come down and see me, which is cool. "Nah, it's fine," I reply. "Just surprised to see you, that's all. In a nice way."

"Oh," she says, perking up again. "That's good. Shepard told us all about the mission, I just wanted to say that…well, I'm sorry to hear it."

"Thanks," I smile, though it feels quite weak. "Garrus mentioned she'd told the crew."

"You're alright, though?" Tali asks. "He said you were a bit of a mess when he talked to you earlier, something about being stuck in the past?"

God, he would try to make it sound as epic as possible, wouldn't he… "More of a delayed reaction than anything," I shrug. "I'm past it, though. Mostly, anyway. Not saying I'm not gonna miss her, but I'm ready to get on with normal things again."

"That's good," the quarian says, sounding relieved. "Like I said before you left for the mission, I'm getting to start enjoying our talks. It's not good if you're depressed. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't be sad!"

I raise an eyebrow and laugh a bit as she gets progressively more wound up, and Tali gradually joins in herself when she realises what I'm laughing at. "You don't need to worry so much, be so nervous," I finally say. "I'm not gonna get mad!"

"I know," she replies. "But I haven't really talked to humans much, except for you and Shepard, and I don't want to accidentally offend you or something…l haven't really tried this full friendship thing outside of the Flotilla and all the quarians there…"

"I'm not a bloody hanar!" I reply, grinning. "Tali, I think you're one of the least likely people to offend anyone, ever. You're too nice."

"Really? Well…thanks," Tali finally says, shyly. "I'm only nice if Garrus isn't in the room, mind."

I smile, nodding my head. "That's more than understandable, to be honest. He has a way of bringing out the worst in people. It's weird, though, to think this is like the first time you've settled down during your pilgrimage. No friends or anything…stranded in freedom, I guess."

"That's not a bad way of putting it," the quarian muses. "It wasn't too bad, really. Back on the Flotilla, it's really cramped, everyone has to share what they have…the solidarity was nice, having all my own stuff. The amount of hate wasn't, though."

"Hate?" Of course, quarians aren't well liked because of that damn stereotype of being vagrants and all that…but still, you'd think they wouldn't be under any illusions about that. "What, you weren't warned before you left that it might happen?"

"Of course we were," she replies, sounding a little tetchy. "Everyone on the Flotilla knows what most of the galaxy think of us, but it doesn't really make it much easier to bear when you actually experience it." That's a pretty good point…my bad for being insensitive there, I guess.

"I wasn't trying to say it would make it easier, I'm sorry…" I stammer, feeling like faceplaming for being such an idiot.

Tali, on the other hand, just laughs. "You're the one saying I get nervous too easily," she giggles. Wow, aliens giggle...I don't know why that's so surprising to me. "You're the one stuttering away for something barely insulting."

"Stuttering? What if that was just a speech impediment?" I ask, grinning as I realise she's right. "Making fun of me for how I t-t-t-talk."

"You don't have a speech impediment, Ian," she points out, chuckling. "See, nervousness isn't such a big deal. Hypocrite."

"Oh, shut up, you bosh'tet," I smile, causing Tali to fold her arms. If I could see her face, I'd bet she was pouting.

"You know a bit of quarian, then?" she asks, sounding a little surprised.

"Oh, please, one word is hardly the whole language," I scoff. "It probably says something about me that the only word I know in quarian is an insult."

Tali nods. "Probably. You said keelah se'lai to me back on Therum though, before you ran off to be some big damn hero."

"I picked up on one or two things in the culture studies," I say quickly, trying to cover myself. Don't want to seem _too _knowledgeable… "It's some kind of religious statement, right? Like 'bless Keelah'?"

"Close enough," Tali shrugs. "You do know a lot about quarians, Ian."

"Don't feel too flattered," I chuckle. "You're just one of my many areas of expertise. I know just as much about the turians, asari, krogan…I know a fair bit about salarians and drell, as well. Something weird always bothered me about the name of your species though. Quarian."

"How so?" she asks.

I draw my mind back to Latin class back in 2010…God, that was a hard subject. I'd rather fight a krogan battlemaster than sit through all that again, though it came surprisingly useful for picking up one or two references in games. Like Credo in Devil May Cry 4, in Latin _credo _means trust or believe, I think, which is ironic since that game taught me not to trust men with funny goatees…and for quarians, the word _quaerens._

"I studied a language when I was in school, it's been dead for ages, but it's like the basis of most languages spoken in Earth's countries," I explain. "This one word in it sounds a bit like quarian, _quaerens. _It means to search or look for, which seems weird."

Tali folds her arms. "I'm not quite sure I follow."

"Well, the Flotilla is searching, right? For a new homeworld and all that…" I say, carefully studying Tali's body language for a sign that I've hit a nerve or something. Thankfully, nothing happens. "It's just an odd coincidence, that's all."

"That is odd…" she mutters. "Funny how things happen like that, I suppose."

I laugh a little weakly. "Yeah, funny…" It's actually kind of a stark reminder that this universe, the place I've lived in for so long, used to just be a work of fiction for me. The signs are still here as well, the Latin origins of the quarian name, for example…that asari colony being called Ilium, which was what Troy was called in Latin and the Aenead…it's weird thinking about it, and to be honest I'd rather not. The main thing is it's very real now, regardless of what little details seem amiss.

A silence has descended upon the room again, but it doesn't feel awkward as Tali and I both sit here, lost in our own thoughts. Until finally, Tali breaks it.

"You're filled with trivia, aren't you? These random little facts about stuff I wouldn't expect most people to know."

I chuckle. "That's just a polite way of saying I'm full of shit." Tali laughs a bit as well, then suddenly groans and lifts a hand to her head.

"Keelah, I almost forgot…Shepard did have something she wanted me to tell you, actually, when I said I was coming down here."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow. "What?"

Tali's voice sounds a little nervous again as she breaks the news. "Saleon, the person you arrested from the Fedele, he's conscious again. Shepard thought you might have some things you wanted to ask him." As soon as she says the salarian's name, I expect a rush of anger like when I found out the codes had come through…but nothing like that. I still feel angry, don't get me wrong, but it's…controlled, this time. Garrus really wasn't lying when he said a bit of sleep would sort my mind out…

"She's got that right," I nod, finally rising to my feet. "I'll head over to the holding cells now. Thanks, Tali."

"It's fine, just passing on the message," she says pleasantly, standing up as well.

"No, I mean for coming down to talk to me," I smile. "You're right, waking up alone would have been a bit crap, especially after everything that's happened. Just…thanks for being here."

"Everyone on the ship's here for you, Ian," Tali replies. "Well, except maybe Wrex. And for what it's worth…thanks for talking to me, as well."

Huh, that's a bit of an odd thing for her to say… "Any time," I smile. With a quick nod, Tali heads off towards the elevator as I turn and head down a corridor on this floor. It's amazing how big the Normandy really is compared to what you get to see in the game…there'd be no reason to include this bit, mind, since it's just stuff you wouldn't have even used, but I was amazed to find out we actually had holding cells. Grateful, as well, considering who we've now got on board as a guest.

It doesn't take long to get to said cells, the one crew member on guard duty looking pretty damn bored. It can't be an exciting job, after all, considering this place is maximum security and even if Saleon did manage to get past him, the bastard would still have to deal with the rest of the ship. Which, to be honest, is bordering on impossible for someone heavily armed, never mind some crazy un-armed salarian.

The guy looks up as he hears my footsteps, then snaps to attention as he sees me, giving a brisk salute. God, I hate it when people do that….

"Relax, mate," I say, giving him a smile. "I'm not even Alliance, don't bother with that crap." The guard looks a bit surprised, but drops the saluting hand anyway, body language becoming more relaxed. "You can probably guess why I'm here, right?"

"The Commander said you'd probably be along," he nods. "I'll open up the cell for you. Is this a proper interrogation, or are you just having a chat?" I pick up on the edge of sarcasm in the man's voice, but just ignore it.

"Chat," I mutter. "So don't bother turning the recording equipment on. That fine?"

"Course." He reaches over to the door panel, taps in a few numbers, and it slides open to reveal Saleon, lying down on a bench which he's cuffed to. "He's all yours."

I give the guard a little smile, then the door slides shut behind me. The smile quickly disappears as I look at the salarian gradually stirring in front of me. The temptation to kill him is still there…but it's weak, and if I was really going to do that I'd have done it back on the Fedele. The reason I'm here to talk to Saleon now is to see if he's got any kind of explanation for what he did, anything at all. 'Closure', as the Americans would say, I guess.

"They feeding you good?" I ask, adding a mocking edge to my tone as the doctor looks up at me.

"Yes, they are," he grins. "Not quite what I'm used to, but it'll suffice."

"Shame, I was hoping they starved you or something," I shrug, glaring at the salarian. God, he's almost pitiful. "Treated you like the subjects you experimented on."

"But that wouldn't do, would it?" Saleon shoots back, glaring at me. "You're too good for that, with your precious ethics."

I return the look Saleon gives, anger rising but staying under control this time. It's still there, of course…but it's not controlling me, which is the main thing. "I spared your life, you bastard. Even after everything you did, the only reason you're still breathing if because of Shepard and what she made me see."

"Spare me the lecture," Saleon snaps. "I remember hearing all this back on my ship, and it was stupid then as well." I take a step forward, pulling my fist back a bit, causing the salarian to flinch.

As Saleon lifts his hands up to shield himself from the blow that's not even coming, I laugh. He's like a nervous kid, for God's sake! "You hide behind all your bullshit, then as soon as it gets dangerous you get scared and run. All mouth." Saleon keeps glaring at me, but thankfully doesn't try for a comeback. I've still got my punching hand ready, and I'm more than ready to pull what I did back on the Fedele again. Though with a different line this time. "I'm not interested in your bullshit," probably won't do it twice.

"Why are you even here then, _Detective_?" he spits. "Come to gloat? That doesn't seem like you."

"It's not," I shake my head. "I want a reason. Why you did everything, what you hoped to achieve. What made it worth killing all those people." Saleon gradually pulls himself up into a seated position on the bench he's cuffed to, and fixes me with wide, beady salarian eyes. Why is he so _ugly?_ It almost hurts to looks at him, I swear.

"Why would I tell you?" Saleon says, simply.

I frown mockingly. "Because I'm asking politely. Do you want me to ask rudely?"

Saleon thinks for a second, looking down at the floor, then finally back up at me. "Fine. I was working for the Collectors."

Holy shit, I wasn't expecting that! The Collectors? What the hell would they want with Saleon…the doctor obviously picks up on my look of surprise, opening his mouth to explain. "Have you heard of the Collectors? A species from beyond the Omega 4 -"

"Yes, I know what a bloody Collector is!" I interject. "Why were they dealing with you?"

Saleon shrugs. "I didn't know exactly, but they were offering tech beyond your wildest dreams. They'd developed something…the power to reanimate the dead!" he jabbers with excitement. "In return, they wanted organs of various species, but the main order was for turian stuff. So I cloned for them, and in return I received the tech, which you saw on the Fedele."

"Reanimate the dead?" I gawp. "It created monsters! Nothing of the host is left!"

Saleon nods furiously. "It's a prototype, but with some changes perhaps it could work." Fucking hell, he's completely lost it…even crazier than he was on the Citadel. "Changes I could have made until you came and arrested me!"

I stride forward right up to him, grabbing him by the throat. "Oh, I'm sorry about that," I hiss. "We just didn't think your research was worth the price of killing people." Saleon's eyes bulge slightly as I squeeze, the temptation just not to let go flaring up…

"Ian!" Shepard's voice shouts from the end of the room, prompting me into quickly letting go. "What are you doing?"

"We're just having a chat, Shepard, that's all," I growl, shooting daggers at Saleon.

"Can you cut it short, then?" she asks rhetorically. "I'd rather have in custody alive, if that's alright."

I nod, smiling a little. "Fair enough. Where are we taking him?"

"I was thinking an Alliance base…" Shepard begins, but I shake my head.

"Take him there when he actually gets his sentence, but the interrogation should be done by C-Sec." Saleon's face suddenly falls as I say that, the meaning sinking in... "Have a nice time, prick," I grin mockingly at him, then step out and the door slides shut behind us. Shepard turns to look at me, blue eyes widened slightly and one eyebrow raised.

"Why C-Sec?" she asks curiously.

"He killed a C-Sec medic," I sigh. "Rebecca. You take a cop-killer back to C-Sec, they're gonna make his life living hell. It's better than he deserves, anyway."

Shepard nods. "That suits me fine. Just try not to kill him before we get there, okay?"

"Alright," I chuckle. "I would have done it on the Fedele if I was going to, anyway." The Commander's expression suddenly changes to one of concern as she looks at me.

"How are you coping?" she asks softly. "After…"

"Fine, fine," I reply quickly. I really don't to dwell on it a particularly large amount, considering the wound's still fresh. "Garrus had a chat with me about it, helped get my head around some stuff…I'm fit for duty whenever you need me, that's the main thing."

"Good," she grins. "You're a useful person to have around. That stunt with the armature was damn impressive, so was taking that krogan bastard's plate off."

"Well, don't go spreading how to do that around," I smile. "Wrex is already freaking out that one person knows how to do it." Shepard smiles, then raises an eyebrow again and points over her shoulder, back towards the elevator.

"I won't. You fancy a game of Systems Warfare, actually? We've got time to kill until we get to Noveria, plus Garrus and Tali are hanging around up there with nothing to do."

I grin widely. It's like one big family on the ship…and it's awesome. "Yeah, of course I do!"

"I thought you might say that," Shepard chuckles, as we head back to the elevator and step inside. "Saleon didn't say anything to you in there that might be useful, did he?"

I'm about to just tell Shepard about the Collectors, when something stops me just before I get the words out. Shepard isn't supposed to encounter the Collectors until they…until they kill her, to be honest. If I tell her now, what if she tries hunting them down or something, getting attention onto them? That might stop her ever being killed, change canon irreversibly…and most likely for the worse, considering she'd never get recruited by Cerberus and the suicide mission would never happen…fuck, I hate all this hiding stuff! I can't risk it, though.

"Nothing," I smile emptily, feeling like a bastard as I reach over and press the button to take us up. "Nothing at all."

**A/N: Thank Christ **_**that's **_**out the way! That's all I'm saying about the first part of the chapter. It might seem like Ian's moved on fairly quick…but that's how I am, plus he'd already accepted Rebecca's death after the Citadel events. **

**Well, looking at my timetable this week it's unlikely I'll be able to write until about…Tuesday or Wednesday, probably, due to schoolwork and stuff. Because apparently, the best time for mock exams and coursework is the week **_**just **_**before we leave for Christmas holidays. Good one, school!**

**On a brighter note…29 reviews last chapter? What the shit is going on? That's phenomenal, so thanks to everyone who reviewed there. Almost at the 400 mark…which I can scarcely believe I'm saying. Said it before, will happily say it plenty more times, you guys and girls are awesome.**

**Alright, see you next chapter!**


	20. Ian vs The FPS

Chapter 20

The Killers: Believe Me Natalie

**A/N: The song doesn't really add much to the chapter this time, it's just a good tune.**

**Yes, we're back, finally! Had schoolwork, which has been annoying (though Americans sitting their finals, you have my sympathy, because you've got it **_**way **_**worse than me.) I've also been fairly ill (and still am), which sucks. Plus I got back into I Wanna Be The Guy as a stress reliever, believe it or not.**

**Finishing up the crew interactions to get the previous happy tone back into the fic…then onwards to Noveria!**

**So without further ado, let's go!**

"So, teams." Shepard says firmly, folding her arms and looking at the four controllers spread out in front of herself, Garrus, Tali and I. The Systems Warfare title screen is splayed out on the screen on the wall, along with epic soundtrack blaring along with it while the camera swoops over shots of a massive battle. Got to say, I'm liking the music, a lot. I've always had a soft spot for epic orchestral compositions…and this almost puts Hans Zimmer to shame, blasphemy that may be.

"What about them?" Garrus asks cockily, snatching up a controller. "I can take all of you on, no problem." Shepard just raises her eyebrows at the turian, and we all proceed to ignore him.

"I was thinking boys versus girls?" I say, shrugging. Actually, do I really want Garrus on my team? He seems a little _too _enthusiastic about all this…

Shepard smiles, shaking her head. "No, let's even it out. I'll go with Garrus, you can play with Tali. That good for everyone?"

"I think so," Tali nods, picking up her controller and taking a seat next to me. From the way she's holding that, I get the distinct impression Tali's not new to gaming…which can only be a good thing. Considering how she's a tech expert and all, she might even know some hacks…I don't want to cheat straight off the bat, but if Garrus gets a little too smug…

"Have you ever played this before?" Tali whispers to me, as Shepard begins to set up a multiplayer deathmatch.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," I chuckle. "Played some similar stuff to this, definitely. What about you?"

She shakes her head. "Not this console, I've played some older stuff we managed to grab on the Flotilla. We're a bit behind the latest trends."

"Well, some experience is better than none," I smile, looking over at Shepard and Garrus, who seem to be locked in some serious conversation as the game loads next to us. "Trust the Commander to take it seriously, though. All those years at the Alliance training camp coming into use to school some noobs at Systems Warfare."

"Noobs?" Tali asks, sounding a confused as the map finally loads, and the class screen pops up. Shit, this is nothing like Call of Duty in regards to that…great, I'm already lost. So it wants me to pick what race I want to be…

"Newbies," I explain, trying to understand the classes as quickly as I can. Oh, so each species has a set of perks to go with them…turians need one less kill for killstreak rewards, krogans have reduced recoil, quarians get a damage upgrade, humans get more ammo in the initial loadout, salarians have unlimited sprint, and asari get increased melee attack range. Huh, doesn't look like there's any biotics… "People who are new to the game. Shepard!" I call over to the Commander, who turns to look at me. "Why no biotics?"

"Oh, they were there initially," Shepard explains, eyes firmly glued to the screen, already spawned and running around the map. Shit, she really looks like she knows what she's doing…the sniper rifle is out and that sensitivity is _high._ "But they were way too overpowered, everyone played as asari and it was just carnage. So the company who make it patched the online so they were out, totally nerfed it by taking it out altogether. You can still use them in campaign, though." Tali's body language and the look on Garrus's face show they have literally no idea what 'nerfed' even means, which probably isn't a bad thing. Shepard and I are just too nerdy…

I always love having extra ammo to throw around, so the human class seems good for me. Tali's gone for quarian, Garrus turian, Shepard human as well…looks like we're all playing our own species! Oh, great, now it wants me to choose weapons as well. Sniper rifle is in…and you can get dual pistols for sidearms! Hell yeah, it's like actually playing as me! Which is ironic considering I'm already in a game universe. Killstreak rewards as well, none of which I understand…so I go five kills, seven kills and nine kills then start the game.

"Ready, partner?" I smile at Tali, as both of us spawn on our side of the map.

"What the fuck?" Garrus says. "That's our thing!"

"I thought you didn't like the cheesy partner stuff," I say idly, keeping my eyes on the screen and moving forward. Controls are just like Call of Duty, and I can't really say I'm that surprised…I scan the area for a turian standing still, as Garrus continues to look at me indignantly.

"I don't, but still!" he moans. "It's a matter of principle. You can't just…" Ah, there's the turian. Standing still, assault rifle clutched in its talons. Sitting duck, in other words.

"Garrus," I interrupt. "Look at the screen for a second." The turian's head whirls around to look at his part of the screen…just as I pull the trigger and send his avatar's head flying clean off. There's a string of expletives from the turian while Shepard, Tali and I laugh at him, and Garrus frantically beings pressing the respawn button.

"That was a…what do you call it? Cheap shot?" I nod, still smiling at Garrus's face. He's taking this almost like a real war. "What happened to honour?"

I shake my head, glancing at Tali. "All's fair in war, right?" The quarian nods happily, advancing her character forward with an assault rifle.

"Hey, how realistic is this game, Shepard?" Garrus asks dryly. "If I shoot a quarian but don't finish them off, do I get points for the kill after the suit breach gets them?"

Tali's hands grip the controller slightly tighter when he says that. God, I wish they were on the same team. Shepard and I wouldn't have to worry about killing them, they'd being doing our job for us.

#########

"Garrus, mate!" I yell, as the turian's shots take me down yet again. "Stop camping, alright? It's getting really damn annoying!" Tali and I were slaughtering Garrus for the most part before this, I even managed to shoot his air support killstreak out of the sky with my drone missile, but Garrus eventually worked out that holing up and going prone in a room with one entrance, sights lined up at the door has the combined bonus of keeping him safe and letting the bastard rack up the kills. Plus he's positioned so far away from the door, the only angle for a grenade is in front of his bullets. Bastard.

"It's tactical positioning," he grins, drawing a curse from Tali as she suffers the same fate as I did. "What do you mean by camping? I don't even have a tent."

Shepard smiles, glancing over at Garrus. "It's staying in one place all the time." Shepard's been playing fair and above board…because she really doesn't need to cheat to win. I don't if Spectres get a special course in video games I didn't know about, either that or the Commander had way too much time on her hands when she was younger, because she's mercilessly kicking our collective ass. "They're just jealous we're winning anyway. You're right, it's good tactics."

Tali shakes her head. "It's underhand. Then again, I'm shouldn't be too surprised, considering who's doing it." I should really keep a scoreboard for Tali and Garrus insulting each other…it's good natured, but I've kind of lost track of who's winning the argument. I glance back at the screen…just as Shepard's character does a 360º spin and shoots me in the face with a sniper rifle. Fuck's sake, that's the third time she's done that in ten minutes!

"Shit!" I shout, impressed by Shepard's skill but _really _not wanting to concede that. "I wasn't looking!"

"Kill's a kill," Shepard grins, leaning over to Garrus and giving him a high five. Or high three, in Garrus's case.

"Get a room," I mutter, but obviously not quietly enough as Shepard and Garrus both look at me. Crap…Shepard frowns at me, but it quickly turns into an eyebrow raise and then a laugh, which Garrus joins in, albeit a little nervously.

"Yeah, me and my turian stud," she grins, turning back to the game. "Maybe we should. What do you say, Garrus?"

"What?" he asks quickly, firmly focusing on the game, talking a little quicker than normal. "Erm, well, I -"

"Relax, Garrus, I'm only joking," she reassures the babbling turian. I catch Garrus taking a quick sigh of relief, something most people would probably miss, but spending almost three years around the guy has a way of letting me pick up his little tells. The way he's acting right now firmly suggests…no, he can't really be interested in Shepard, can he? Damn, maybe Wrex was right!

"You should try joining forces to get Garrus," Shepard points out to Tali and I. "He probably can't shoot both of you at once."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Tali says, lightly nudging me on the shoulder. "Meet up with me, then."

I glance on the map, not able to see Tali's character. "Where abouts are you?" I ask, fruitlessly twirling the camera around.

Tali leans over, grabbing my hands and pushing on the controller for me. "Do I have to do everything?" she chuckles, her three fingers pushing my five. I thought that would feel really weird, for some reason, but the suit material is surprisingly soft and the three fingers aren't even bothering me…

"No teamwork," Garrus laughs, glancing over at me and knocking me off my train of thought. "Getting Tali to do everything. There's no 'I' in team, Ian."

"True, but there's three 'U's' in shut the fuck up," I shoot back, as Tali's hands abruptly release mine. Garrus looks confused for a second…until the punchline actually hits him and he just glares at me. Feels good to win.

"You ready?" Tali asks, as we both take up positions either side of Garrus's doorway. "On the count of three. One, two…" I push the left trigger to bring the weapon's sight up, as does Tali. "Three!"

As soon as she does, there's a loud crack of a sniper rifle, and both our characters drop dead as Shepard triumphantly punches the area next to me. "Two in one!" she crows, as the game finishes now she and Garrus have reached the winning score. That little fucking schemer!

"You set us up!" I yell, grinning as I realise how cunning that actually was…she totally played us. "That's actually pretty good."

"What can I say?" she shrugs. "Played you like a viola and then cut your strings. Rematch?"

"Tempting, but I think I'll pass," I say, rising to my feet. "Ash said she was gonna give me some CQC tuition, so thought I may as well take her up on it."

Shepard shakes her head, smiling. "She probably feels bad for that sparring match you had before." She had to bring that up, didn't she… "Alright. Good game."

"Of course it was, you won," Tali says jokingly, rising to her feet as well. "They'll be missing me down in engineering, I'd better go too." We both make to move off to the elevator, but Shepard reaches out a hand and grabs me by the arm. Huh?

"I've got something we need to talk about," she says. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna reprimand you or anything." Tali looks at me a bit unsurely, probably torn between waiting or heading to the elevator. Aw, she's so _nice._

"Don't wait up," I smile at her, getting a small nod of thanks as she heads off towards the elevator, and I turn back to Shepard. "What's up?"

"I thought you and Garrus would want to know…" she says, suddenly looking fairly nervous. "We got Rebecca's body back from the Fedele, it's in a coffin ready for burial. I don't know where you had in mind for it, or what kind of ceremony you wanted -"

"I'll need to think about it," I say quickly, the little pang of sadness I get in the pit of my stomach thinking about her making me want to stop the conversation. "I'd say the Citadel, but she said she'd like to see some other places in the galaxy…even though she's dead, it's the best I can do for her now."

"It's your choice, Ian," Garrus says softly. Garrus Vakarian being sensitive, now that is something… "You knew her best."

"Like I said, I need to think about it," I repeat, trying to think of a good location but coming up blank. The Citadel just seems like too much of a cop-out, something that doesn't require any thought. "If that's alright."

Shepard nods vigorously. "Yeah, of course. Take your time with it. We're heading to Noveria at the moment, since they'll have a Mako for us to borrow so we don't need yet another one," she says. "But wherever you want to go, we can. The mission can wait a day or so."

"Thanks," I smile. Badass out in the field, but Shepard does really care about her people… "I appreciate this, Shepard."

"Don't worry about it," she says, waving my thanks away with a hand. "Go on, Ash is probably waiting for you. You want to play the campaign, Garrus?"

"If it means you won't be shooting at me, then sure," he smiles, settling back in his chair. "See you later, Ian."

"Yeah, in a bit," I murmur, deep in thought as I approach the elevator and wait. Maybe she'd have wanted a burial back on Watson, where she came from…no, maybe not, considering that wasn't exactly a happy place for her. She liked turian culture and stuff, probably because of Garrus, so maybe Invictus or Palaven, but it still doesn't seem right. She'd always wanted to see beyond the Citadel, when she took in the view when we were on the rooftop that one night.

It wasn't really the kind of thing we talked about, though, where you wanted to be buried where you died. The elevator finally arrives with a jovial pinging noise, and I step inside, still thinking away. Maybe that's something I should consider, though, considering I'm not exactly in one of the safest careers…like a will, or something. Having someone close to me dying is making me think about my mortality quite a lot, which probably ain't too healthy.

The elevator doors slide open on the garage floor a lot quicker than I was expecting, which makes a nice change. Maybe Tali did mess with the tech to speed it up, despite what Ash said…speaking of Ash, I should probably get down to the gym soon, but I haven't talked to Wrex for a while, which is a bit of a shame. Time to rectify that.

"Wrex," I say, giving him a nod of a head as I approach.

"Ian," he replies, frowning a bit. "I heard about your mate, Rebecca. It's a bad business, I'm sorry to hear about it."

"Sentiment? From the great krogan battlemaster?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Thanks though, Wrex."

"I do have emotions, you know," he grunts. "Sympathy is seen as a sign of weakness among my people, a barrier to success. You might feel sorry for someone, but other krogan won't, and you get left behind. Getting left behind means getting killed."

I grimace a bit. "Tuchanka sounds like such a _happy _place. Cute furry animals, sunshine and rainbows, cake for everyone…"

"What is the obsession with cake relating to happiness?" Wrex interrupts. "They aren't connected. The cake is a lie! It's just food!" Holy crap…did he just say what I thought he said? Maybe I should introduce Wrex to Portal! Actually, that really doesn't seem like his kind of game. Wrex seems more God of War as opposed to a puzzle game…

"Tastes nice, it makes you happy," I explain simply. "Weren't you being sympathetic before, though?"

"Like I said, I've still got those emotions. You just learn to cover them up. I don't think there's any krogan around here to pick up on that 'weakness', so I can express it. As for why they'd pick up on it, well…any excuse for pointless violence among them. Besides, you other species are much more prone to emotion, so I can probably understand how you're feeling."

"Can you?" I ask, suddenly feeling a little tetchy for him saying that. "Have you ever lost someone really close to you?"

Wrex looks thoughtful. "My father died, but that was a bit different."

"How so?"

"I stabbed him in the chest."

How could I forget _that _story…at least he's trying to relate experiences to mine, though, that's all I can ask.

"You're so bloody macabre," I chuckle, anger quickly dissipating. "Good effort, though. You killed your own father?" All I actually remember about this story was the main 'killing own father' bit, the detail was kind of lost on me because of that…

"He was called Jarrod," Wrex explains, sounding as wistful as a krogan probably can. "I led a separate tribe to him when I was younger, which was always bound to lead to trouble, I guess. Especially when our ideas were so different. He was all for a krogan call to arms, to continue fighting after the Krogan Rebellions were done."

"You disagreed?" I ask, folding my arms.

"My father was an idiot. Of course I did," Wrex snaps. "I thought, and still think that we should focus on breeding, on peace. Believe it or not, not all krogan are psychopaths. Though the image does help with mercenary work."

"Can't deny that," I nod. "You're pretty fucking scary. Until I got to know you, anyway. Even then…"

Wrex smiles a little. "Thanks. Anyway, our disagreement came to a head, and he asked me to come to a Crush. Meeting on neutral ground."

"That screams 'trap'," I point out. "You still went?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Exactly what I thought as well, but when your father calls you to a Crush, no isn't an option. Long story short, I was right. When he realised I wasn't going to follow his ideas, he attacked. Killed every damn warrior I brought with me. I got out, but not before Jarrod had my knife sticking through his gut. Bastard," Wrex spits.

"Wow," is all I can say, honestly quite shocked. "So…what does this have to do with relating to loss and sympathy?"

"It doesn't, idiot," Wrex replies, shaking his head at my apparent ignorance. "What I found when he died is that the krogan have changed. We once valued strength, courage, honour, now the tribes just fight pointlessly. You're more of a true krogan than half of the people on that damn planet. But someone who used to be close to me dying made me realise something. That's what I'm saying. Death has a way of making you realise stuff. It did for me, anyway."

That's actually a fairly interesting point…did I learn anything from Rebecca's death? I should have warned her about Saleon, protected her, but I still didn't. Is that what I need to take from this? Is withholding important information really worth the personal cost? Then again, if I break from secrecy, who knows what might happen…

"I'll think about that," is all I say. It's all I can say, really. "You know, this has been surprisingly therapeutic, Wrex."

"Don't get used to the sympathy," he grunts. "But glad to help. You're a good guy, Ian. For a human, anyway." That sounds like a bit of a backhanded compliment…but I'll take it anyway. Any kind of compliment from Wrex is good, after all.

"You're not too bad for a krogan," I grin. "I'll talk to you later, Wrex, I think Ash is waiting for me down in the gym for some combat training."

Wrex chuckles, a low rumbling sound that fills the room. "You're going down there to get beaten up again? You're either tenacious, or just really damn stupid."

"Well, let's hope it's the former," I say, heading off towards the elevator. "Though considering I took a krogan's plate off, I'm feeling a bit more confident about my close quarters combat." I shoot the krogan a wink. "Aren't you?"

That shuts him up.

#########

"Ash!" I yell from across the gym, prompting her to stop laying into the punching bag and to look across at me, amused smirk on her face. "How're you doing?"

"Not bad, but someone's been stretching my patience a bit," she comments dryly. "What took you so long?"

"Talking to Wrex, playing Systems Warfare with Shepard, Garrus and Tali…" Ash raises an eyebrow at me. "You're not impressed, are you?"

"Not really," she grins, then her expression turns sober. "I heard about Rebecca. If you were grieving, it's fine, I didn't mean it like that…"

I shake my head, smiling a little. "Don't worry about it Ash, I know what you meant. I've still got a sense of humour, you know."

"Yeah, course," she replies, sounding relieved. "I'm really sorry though, Ian."

"Thanks," I nod. I always thought people saying 'sorry for your loss' was a bit shit…but it actually feels good to have people say it. Reassuring. "So, now I'm actually here…"

She grins, grabbing some boxing pads and heading over to the mats, gesturing for me to follow. I guess hoping for her to talk me through it was a bit optimistic, rather than her teaching by example of kicking my ass…it's gonna be worth it in the long run, though. I hope.

"We're gonna do some work on your speed," she explains, bouncing around on the balls of her feet. "When we were sparring, your reactions weren't bad, but you need to attack quicker. I could have done my hair by the time they would have connected. Speaking of hair, actually…" she gestures towards my mop of curled, blonde hair. Oh, hell no!

"I think we'll keep it as it is," I say firmly. "Alliance regs might say otherwise, so it's a good thing I'm not Alliance."

She chuckles lightly, fixing the pads onto her hands. "No need to be so defensive, Ian, I didn't realise you cared so much about it." She still has an uncanny habit of winding me up, doesn't she…

"It took a while to grow like this, alright?" I reply. "Are we gonna do this or not?"

"Now that you're fired up a bit, then yes," she grins. Oh, she actually played me to get me angry to help with my performance…damn, Ash is _cunning._ "Sixty seconds, punch the pads as many times as you can, alternate hands each time." Oh, wow, that doesn't sound too bad…

"So, how many times am I aiming for?" I ask, bringing up my fists and placing my feet in a fighting stance. "Assuming you still want powerful punches, of course."

"With power…" Ash muses. "I'm looking at about a hundred and twenty, maybe a few less."

"Eh?" I splutter. "That's like two every second!"

She just smiles at me again, pads still up. "Not like, it just is. You said you wanted training, here we are. Don't like it, feel free to walk out. No loss for me, at the end of the day."

"I didn't say that," I sigh. "You certainly know how to push a guy, though." Oh God, that actually sounds like a massive innuendo now I've said it…and Ash's raised eyebrow suggest she's picked up on that. Bugger!

"I've heard that before," she grins. "Now's not the time, though. Whenever you're ready." I stare at the pads, take a deep breath…then launch into the first hook with my right. Ash barely gives way at all with her hand, as I punch with the left and start a rhythmic breathing pattern. This is gonna be exhausting…

#########

"Alright, take five and get a drink," Ash grins, as I fall onto the ground, absolutely bathed in sweat and just gasping in the air. "That last one wasn't bad, Ian, a hundred and three punches."

"Really…not sure…it was worth the effort," I gasp, pushing myself back up to a standing position and staggering towards the water cooler. Half an hour punching away at what may as well be a brick wall as fast as you can is surprisingly tiring…

"You'll thank me for it later," she replies, taking a seat next to me as I collapse onto one of the benches around the ring, greedily glugging my water down. God, I needed _that _stuff. "We've only been at it for half an hour, but you're getting better each time. You just need to get your muscles used to it, that's all."

"Well, I wish they hurried up with it," I mutter, raising a little laugh from Ash. Now that I've actually got a break and time to gather my thoughts, I find them drifting back to Rebecca, and the funeral. Fuck, I still haven't decided what to do! A whole galaxy out there, and I can't decide what planet! I sigh deeply, raising a look of concern from Ash.

"What's up?" the Chief asks. "Something on your mind?"

I frown, considering whether or not to tell her…ah, why the hell not. Maybe she'll have some ideas, anyway. "Just thinking about Rebecca. Shepard's got the coffin on board, but I don't know where I want the funeral at?"

"Did she not have some favourite place? Somewhere special to you?" Ash asks, curiously.

"We went up to this rooftop on the Citadel once, that was like our special place," I explain. "I can't get a burial there, though. She'd always wanted to see the rest of the galaxy, though…"

Ash shakes her head. "It's a big place out there, Ian. If she wanted to see it, just choose anywhere."

Wait, a whole galaxy…maybe there is some way for that to happen! "Ash, that's it!"

Her expression immediately becomes one of confusion. "What? What's it?"

"She always wanted to see the galaxy…so I can release the coffin out into space. Just let it drift." The more I think about it, the more that seems right…shit, why didn't I think of it before? "Ash, can we cut this session short? I need to go and get it checked out with Shepard."

"No problem," she nods. "I'll come up with you. This is something the whole crew should be around for."

#######

Something the whole crew should be around for, indeed. We stand by the airlock on the lower floor, the one designed to eject smaller objects into space without opening up a vacuum on the whole damn ship, the coffin ready to go, vast window next to it for us to see out into space. Shepard and Ash stand next to me as I look at it, the rest of the squad and indeed the whole crew behind them. Shepard agreed to the idea straight away, putting out an announcement for everyone to meet up…and, well, here we are.

Garrus and I already did a little address to the crew, thanking everyone for coming and talking a bit about Rebecca…but neither of us are particularly good at speeches, so it felt a bit awkward. Still, it's what she would have wanted. It's what I want, as well.

I feel myself welling up a bit looking at the coffin, but hold them back as Shepard turns to look at the crew. The Commander, on the other hand, shouldn't have too many problems with epic speeches…

"Rebecca Simmons was a great woman," she declares. "People here may not have known her, but from a young age she overcame the adversary of losing her family and being orphaned with one clear goal in mind. To help other people. She joined C-Sec as a medic, selflessly dedicating herself to work to save lives. Ian and Garrus both knew her very well, and we're gathered here today to mark their tragic loss, and the loss of a fine person." Short, but sweet, just as I expected from Shepard. Garrus nods solemnly at her words from nearby, as do most of the crew, sombre expressions upon everyone's face.

"Thanks, Shepard," I whisper as she steps to the side.

"No problem," she half-smiles back. "It's the least I can do. Do you want to set it off?"

"Yeah," I nod, urge to break down still there, but I continue resisting. I reach over to the button to release the coffin, taking one last look at the thing holding Rebecca. Then I slam the button before I change my mind, a hiss of air as it shoots out into space.

Ash stands just to the side of me as the coffin drifts away, a single tear creeping out into my eye as she opens her mouth and begins to speak, slowly and deliberately.

"_Death closes all: but something ere the end,_

_Some work of noble note, may yet be done,  
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.  
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:  
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep  
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,  
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.  
Push off, and sitting well in order smite  
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds  
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths  
Of all the western stars, until I die._

_Though much is taken, much abides; and though  
We are not now that strength which in the old days  
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,  
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,  
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will  
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."_

**A/N: God, it feels like my brain is trying to force its way out of my skull with this damn headache…sorry if it seems a little less coherent towards the end, I'm not feeling tip-top. Seems fine on re-reading though.**

**Ah yes, quote from the poem 'Ulysses' by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I know Ash knows the poem well, so it seemed appropriate.**

**Okay, next time we finally begin the next story mission, Noveria! Once I'm not feeling so damn sick!**

**Kudos to everyone by the way, broke the previous review record (though considering I've only written two fics, that's not that much of an achievement) **_**and **_**we're past the 400 reviews mark! Really, really appreciate it, thank y'all so much.**

**I'm assuming you've all seen the ME3 trailer...set in Britain! Colour me excited! I was so happy when that turned up, even if there's not actually a London level. Shepard turning his back on Earth in it though, just screams morality choice later on. We'll just have to wait and see (unfortunately. I want it now!)**

**Until next time! **


	21. Ian vs The Bureaucrats

Chapter 21

The Fray: Little House

**A/N: **_**Damn, **_**sorry this took so long. I managed to get even more ill the day after putting up the last chapter, which sucks, so it's taken me a little longer than usual to actually get coherent enough to write something that's decent quality. **

**Anyway, time for Noveria. Rather fitting considering the amount it's been snowing around here…off we go!**

So I'm on the ground-team again, it turns out. After the funeral, though obviously not literally straight after because that would have been insensitive, Shepard asked if I was alright to go out. I'd have been disappointed if she hadn't asked, to be honest, since all I want to do right now is get all the stuff with Rebecca and Saleon behind me and just continue on with life as normal. So obviously I told her there wasn't a problem, and here we are again, grabbing my equipment from my locker.

We're getting the old crew back together again as well; Garrus and Wrex are coming along, which is gonna mean more of the kill competition. Which is great, because if memory serves I'm losing by a fair bit. Better step up my game, especially now Wrex is on the squad and we're fighting Rachni, because he's pretty damn motivated to kill them...

Actually, Shepard never did mention who the last squad member was. A quick glance to my right shows it's not Ash, as she's messing around with an assault rifle dressed in her casual outfit. Tali, Kaidan or Liara, then. I'd be surprised if Shepard's chosen Liara considering how personal the mission is for her…that sounds really harsh to think, actually. Plus Shepard doesn't actually find out Benezia is on Noveria until we touch down… and even when we do, Liara's well within reason to want to be on the squad exactly because of her mother's presence, but considering her mother's going to die whatever happens in the mission it's probably better she isn't. Seeing that kind of thing can't be healthy, though I've got no idea how she reacts to it in-game since I never took her on the mission for that exact reason…

Yeah, Shepard's pretty sensible. I doubt Liara's gonna be there, most likely Kaidan so there's someone else that's Alliance on the mission. Tali would be nice, mind, for the banter with Garrus…just as long as she keeps the shotgun away from his face. Turian blood stains are really hard to get out of armour, apparently, so if she does shoot him hopefully I'm not gonna be around for it.

Both pistols are looking good, sights calibrated…sniper rifle's also looking good. I snap it to the magnetic strip on my back, grab my knife from the back of the locker and attach it over my left shoulder. After Therum and the amount of times it saved my ass back there, there's no way in _hell _I'm leaving it behind, ever.

Yep, I think that's everything! I take a step back, glancing down at the dragon on my armour as I do. When I move my left arm, it actually looks like it's beating its wings, the head rolling slightly with my shoulder movements…almost like the bloody silhouette is alive on my chest. Huh, that's trippy. How'd I never pick up on that before? I should really go and thank Laet one of these days, though he'd probably prefer a few credits rather than a few kind words…I arranged that contract for him through Shepard, though, so he should be fairly happy to see me next time I'm on the Citadel. I hope.

"You look set," Ash notes from across, lifting her head up from her work slightly and smiling. Probably smiling because of the state she left me in after our second combat session. She didn't mind taking a _break _for the funeral, but the training was far from over. In the few hours it's taken us to get to Noveria, Ash just kept at it. When I finally reached one hundred and twenty punches, which made my arms feel like they were gonna fall off, she put bloody weighted gloves on me. _Weighted. _That's just bloody sadistic, to be honest. I'll probably go to lift my pistols on the mission and pull a fucking muscle from all the strain.

"Don't feel set," I reply, raising an eyebrow. "But if I look it, at least we're halfway there, right?"

Ash just chuckles and leans back slightly. "Don't blame me. You asked for the combat lessons, after all. We already got your speed up, plus I taught you that reverse roundhouse. Don't say you didn't get anything out of it."

"Oh, stop being right," I grumble jokingly, closing the locker door. I can't lie, that reverse roundhouse is bloody _sweet,_ something I've wanted to be able to do for a while but didn't think I had the flexibility for. I'm not exactly malleable, but nowhere near as rigid as I used to be thanks to all the action and stuff I've managed to get myself involved in. Though I can't punch particularly far, since I'm not exactly tall. About 5,9", maybe 5,10" at a push. So I have don't have reach or flexibility. Oh, the irony, considering who my best mate is. "The sad thing is I know I'm gonna be back for more as well."

"Yep," she grins. "Well, if you make it through the mission."

"Jesus, Ash, thanks for the vote of confidence," I reply sardonically. "It can't be any worse than Therum." Actually, is it? Loads of Rachni and the acid that entails…God, I've had enough acid from Feros to last me a lifetime. Oh yeah, and an extremely powerful asari matriarch and her entourage of biotics and geth. Therum has nothing on this shit, does it?

"You'll just have to wait and see," Ash replies simply. "Don't go in there expecting things to be easy. Stay on guard."

"You don't have to worry about that," I chuckle. Not when I know what's coming. Drop my guard and I'll probably get stabbed in the back by that bastard Anoleis, or stabbed in the face by a rachni. Neither are particularly good for me. "I can look after myself." And with that, I swivel around on my hill, take a step forward, whack my forehead off Wrex's chest, who was standing right behind me, and fall to the floor.

"Sure, nothing gets past you," she laughs, Wrex chuckling too. Neither offer me a hand up. Jesus, that was the worst possible time for that to happen, wasn't it? Actually… "Wrex, why the fuck were you standing there?" I ask the still laughing krogan, climbing back up to my feet and still feeling slightly dazed. Krogan armour is rock solid…I may as well have walked into a brick wall.

"We're closing in on Noveria now, Shepard wants everyone at the airlock," he explains calmly, both of them still laughing at me. There's never a good time to walk into something, but this is definitely one of the worse ones…

"So? Were you sneaking up on me or something? No warning you were there, at all."

"I just assumed you weren't stupid enough to walk right into me," Wrex counters. Touché. "Now get in the elevator. My patience is beginning to wear thin, all these weapons and no enemies to kill. Might just have to make do with whatever's nearby." He looks menacingly at me to emphasise the point.

"Elevator. Right you are, Wrex!" I say, mock-merrily, walking quickly towards it with Wrex shaking his head slightly next to me. "Talk later, Ash!"

"Alright!" she calls back. "Try not to walk into anything else. Inanimate objects can be pretty sneaky."

I roll my eyes at the chief, just as the elevator doors slam shut.

#########

"_Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defence grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."_

Joker looks over his shoulder at Shepard, raising an eyebrow and grinning slightly. "They really know how to greet someone, Commander. Should we just ignore them and see how good their defence grid is?" Shepard just shakes her head slightly, smiling, stepping up to the comms array.

"Citadel business," she says confidently. "I'm a Council Spectre."

There's a slight pause on the mic, then… "_Landing access granted, Normandy. Be advised, we will confirm your identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established your vessel will be impounded."_ With that, the line goes dead.

"Wow, that guy was a douche with a capital bag," I note, Joker nodding approvingly as we all look at the docking bay out of the window.

"Got that right," the pilot nods. "Friendly, welcome environment. Am I alright to take some leave here Commander? I love happy locals." Shepard sighs slightly at Joker, and signals for us to gather around by the airlock. Let's see, there's Garrus, Wrex, Shepard and myself. Someone's missing…

"Alright?" I ask Garrus fairly quietly as Shepard looks around impatiently. "Got the kill counter set up?"

"Of course," he smiles, tapping the visor to emphasise the point. "You're on fifteen, I have eighteen, Wrex has twenty-one."

"Do we get bonus points for killing the guy who just talked to us?" Wrex asks. "He was annoying."

That's actually a valid point… "If the opportunity comes up, I don't see why not," I shrug. "Three points for him. This is a civilian area first though Wrex, so don't just go out all guns blazing. You'll get done for murder, but more importantly you won't get any points for it."

Wrex glares at me. "Thanks, Ian. I might not have picked up on that until it was too late." I _totally _deserved that…wait a minute, who's that coming towards us in full armour?

"Sorry, Shepard, I just had to check my weapon," Liara explains anxiously, jogging up towards us. What? No, this can't be a good idea!

"Better safe than sorry," Shepard says reassuringly, just as Joker brings the ship to a halt. "You're just on time, anyway." The Commander turns to look at us, brunette hair tied back for action, green eyes sparkling as she stares at Garrus, oddly enough. "There's been a lot of geth interest in the planet, and we've got no idea why. This is extremely important, it goes without saying. The geth don't come around for no reason, so there's got to be something they're after." Keelah, I hope Liara doesn't react too bad when she finds out her mother's on the ship…

Keelah? Did I actually just think that? I must be spending too much time around Tali.

Shepard leads us into the airlock, the doors opposite quickly opening out into the spaceport…and letting a rush of cold air in the causes us all to gasp in with shock. Jesus Christ, it's _freezing _out here! Garrus looks incredibly uncomfortable, Wrex looks pissed off, while Shepard, Liara and I shiver slightly.

"That's gonna keep the nerves sharp," Shepard mutters as we all step out and start forward towards the security checkpoint ahead. Maybe I should broach the subject of Benezia and Liara…though I can't now, because I shouldn't know Benezia is around, and especially not while Liara's around or standing next to me. Hopefully there'll be an opportunity. It's weird, actually, starting a mission and my guns are still firmly in their holsters…

"Anyone hear that?" I ask, cupping a hand to my ear. Shepard raises an eyebrow at me, Garrus starts looking around a little nervously, arms folded presumably for warmth. Aw, turians don't like the cold, do they?

"No," Wrex replies bluntly.

"It's the sound of people not shooting at us as soon as we touch ground," I grin. "We should savour this. Admittedly we haven't been greeted in the nicest way, but it beats a bullet to the face, right?"

"It can still be arranged," the krogan grunts as we press on. Fuck, he's good! Being as old as Wrex is probably lets you absorb a lot of comebacks, and being as badass lets it work.

We all take a right down the walkway…and the sight of the three guards ahead makes me groan slightly. One turian male, and two humans, one male with black hair and one female as far as I can tell. Here we go, the prick brigade. Because apparently the local police has more power than a Spectre. Maybe Shepard'll just shoot them…one of them is gonna get killed whatever happens, I think, but maybe get three birds with one stone?

"That's far enough!" the one with black hair says, scowling at us. Her voice…that's a _woman? _Noveria is messed up!

"I decide when that is," Shepard glares at the woman. "There some kind of problem here?"

"You'd better hope not," the blonde one scowls. Two seconds and already, both sides of the 'discussion' hate each other. This probably bodes well for the rest of Noveria… "You're an unscheduled arrival. I'm going to need some credentials."

"Shepard," the woman herself says sharply. "Council Spectre. Is that it? Can we go now?"

"Bullsh-" the blonde starts, but the black haired woman, who's name badge identifies her as…Maeko, I think, interrupts her.

"I'm going to have to check that," she frowns disbelievingly. "Also, there's a policy of no firearms on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, relieve them of their weapons."

Uh-uh, bitch! Stirling takes one step forward, and all out weapons come up. I grab both pistols and point one at each woman, while they all draw their guns as well. Oh, a standoff! Now this _is _exciting, especially since we outnumber them. Still, got a line I've been wanting to say for a while now…

"I'll relinquish one bullet," I say calmly to the Sergeant, looking her straight in the eye. "Where do you want it?"

Yeeaaahhhhhhh.

"I have my own policy, where I don't give up my weapon," Shepard growls. "So step off."

"We're authorised to use lethal force, you have until the count of three to surrender your weapon!" Is she actually gonna try and do this? She's _crazy! _There's five of us, heavily armed…Wrex could probably tear them apart by himself and she's trying to arrest us? I'd still feel bad about shooting them, mind, but if they open fire on us…

"One. Two. Three…" I actually see Shepard's finger tense on the trigger as Maeko finishes counting down, before a voice on the intercom finally comes through.

"_Captain, stand down!" _it says urgently. Phew, thank Christ that happened! Both the turian and Sergeant Stirling lower their guns, as we all slowly do the same. Well, so much for no hostilities on landing, though at least nobody got shot…

"_Their identity's been confirmed. Spectres are allowed to carry weapons here, Captain!" _The voice says again. I can't bloody remember who that is…it's Anoelis's secretary, right? Parasini? Should have played it more often…

"In that case, you may proceed, Spectre," the Captain says, sounding incredibly bitter. Come on now, don't be a sore loser. "I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational."

"Depends if we bump into you again," Wrex grunts as we start to move past, getting a haughty glare from Stirling.

Maeko thankfully ignores him. "Parasini-san will meet you upstairs." But Stirling can't resist one last shot as we head to leave…

"Behave yourself," she mutters. Shepard whirls around to look at her furiously.

"Same to you," the Commander shoots back. No-one else could make those three words sound so threatening. I'm getting chills, and she's not even talking to me! The security team struts off, presumably to have a good old bitch about us, but I think we've got bigger fish to fry. Shepard seems to have the same idea, striding off and shaking her head slightly in annoyance at the interruption.

"We come here on an enormous ship," she says as we head into the main lobby, with its mediocre water fountain, and ascend the steps towards the front desk. "I tell them I'm a Spectre. I mean, of course they have to check, but all things considered does it look like I'm lying? Do they have to be so bloody aggressive?"

"To be fair, Shepard, we were the ones who pulled guns on them," Garrus points out. "Not that they didn't have it coming."

"Joker was right, it is a happy place around here," I chuckle, taking a glance around. A lot of the room's occupants are looking at us…and not in a particularly welcoming way. "Good vibe for tourists. At least no-one's opened fire on us yet, though I'd almost be more comfortable if they did."

"Why?" Wrex asks. I raise an eyebrow at him. He's the last person I'd expect to be questioning that… "Not saying I disagree, just want to know why you think that," the krogan explains. Ah.

"It's easier to deal with. Bang bang, problem solved. This place is a political bloody minefield, and they weren't even too happy about letting a Spectre in. If control on visitors is this tight…"

Liara nods. "They've got some secrets around here they do not want getting out. Business colonies like this can be surprisingly dangerous. People will go for great lengths for money. I've been to Ilium a few times and seen the atmosphere there, it is not good for the unprepared. Visit, but I do not recommend signing anything." Damn, that probably would have been good advice for the colonists back on Feros…too late now!

"I think you might be right there," Shepard mutters. "This place is giving me chills, I'm not gonna lie. It's too bloody corporate and uptight. Reminds me of Udina."

"I'm getting chills too," Garrus nods, still shivering slightly. "But that's probably just because of the temperature. Turians don't like the cold, Shepard."

"I told you when we were on Systems Warfare it was going to be freezing, Garrus," Shepard smiles. "I said bring something warm, but you said…"

The turian frowns and shakes his head, fringe turning slightly blue again. Aw, she's making him embarrassed… "I said the thermal gear looks stupid. Which it does. I look fat in it." Wrex is already laughing as quietly as he can next to me, and I'm feeling pretty inclined to join in myself.

"But now you look stupid by complaining you're cold," I say, smiling. "You can't really win this one, Garrus."

"I'm fine!" he glares at me. "Just saying it's really not nice here."

"Then you should have worn the gear like I said," Shepard points out.

"Shepard, I -"

"Shut up, Garrus. That's an order," she grins as we approach the front desk, where Parasini is waiting. "If you don't complain, I won't take the piss out of you. Even though I was right about the thermals." Garrus's mandibles open wide in indignation…but Shepard quickly turns to Parasini and greets her, leaving Garrus standing slightly slack-jawed next to her. God, they're bickering like an old married couple…I quickly glance over at Wrex, who gives me a knowing look. They're just good friends…

Shepard, meanwhile, is busy accosting Parasini. "Well, you should get Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber back there to check their facts before they start pulling guns on a Spectre and her crew," Shepard frowns. "I know it's not your fault, and thanks for stopping things before we ended up killing them, but who's actually in charge here?"

"That would be Administrator Anoleis," she explains calmly. "As for our security chief, well…she takes her job very seriously. She's very useful because of that. Part of my job is greeting guests and answering any questions they may have, so…do you have any questions?"

Shepard nods, loosening up a bit now it turns out Parasini is actually alright. "Yeah. Has anybody unusual came through recently? Visitors you wouldn't expect, or don't see particularly often?"

Parasini frowns. "Unusual? We had an asari matriarch through a few days ago, Lady…Benezia, I think?" Liara's eyes light up when she says that…like I expected. She doesn't look panicked, thankfully, just shocked.

"Benezia's here?" she asks incredulously.

Shepard turns her head slightly to address the asari. "Sounds like it."

"Why?" Parasini asks, sounding confused. "Is something wrong?" 'Something wrong' is probably a bit of an understatement…

Shepard nods solemnly. "I need to talk to Benezia, maybe bring her in. She's currently a threat to galactic security." Liara looks saddened when Shepard says that…but not angry. Because she knows, whether she likes it or not, it's true. I'm just grateful Shepard didn't go for the dialogue option where she pretty much says she's gonna kill Benezia, that would have been _awkward._

"The executive board don't like having problems dropped on them, Commander," Parasini points out.

"This is galactic security," I say, surprised at how she's reacting. "Like it or not, this is something they've got to address!"

"I'm just saying what they think. It's not down to me," she replies coolly. "The Lady Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex a few days ago, and to my knowledge she's still there." It's never that easy, is it…we can't just walk into the next room and arrest her.

Shepard frowns, but remains fairly civil. "Alright. We could use some directions, and we'll be going." Ugh, she's not gonna like what Parasini's gonna throw back…

"You need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave the port," she points out. Shepard throws her arms up in the air in exasperation, and the rest of us just shake our heads. It's like a bad comedy…where there's one simple goal and every single character tries to make it as hard as possible for the protagonist to achieve it.

"Great." she says, sounding exasperated. "Do I need clearance to speak to him as well?"

"I don't think so," Parasini smiles. "You can go through now. If you need any more help, you can come and see me at the administrator's office."

"I'll do that," Shepard replies, sounding fairly tired as she leads us all through into the elevator that leads up to the trading room. I imagine cutting through all the political bullshit is quite tiring though…like cutting your way through a jungle, except with a butter knife rather than a machete. Liara walks up to Shepard, head lowered slightly. Maybe I'm not going to have to bring it up with Shepard after all, considering Liara's doing it for me…

"Shepard," she says abruptly as the elevator doors open, stopping us all in our tracks. "I imagine you want to talk to me about my mother, correct?"

Shepard takes a quick glance at all of us. "You all head out into there for a bit while I talk to Liara, okay? I'll meet up with you in five." Very sensitively handled, Shepard…I like it.

"Sure," I say cheerily. "We'll try not to piss anyone off while you're gone. No promises, though."

"Don't worry about it," Shepard says dryly. "I don't think I'd actually mind getting in a firefight with some people around here." With that, she turns back to the asari, so this would be a good time for us to leave…yeah. Garrus, Wrex and I stroll out and take a quick glance down at the floor below us, filled with aliens and the odd human running around, boring stone everywhere. It's so corporate around here it actually hurts.

"Well," Garrus comments as we walk aimlessly towards the first building we see, picking up all manner of filthy looks from the businesspeople around, "everyone seems to hate us around here. I thought serving with a Spectre was going to be glamorous."

"They think we're here for their corporate secrets," Wrex grunts. "It's no wonder they're all so nervous, every person here's probably done something that could get them arrested. At least one thing." He's probably right…it would explain why nobody wants to talk to us around here, and why Anoelis is gonna throw a hissy fit when Shepard goes to talk to him.

"We should totally go wind them up," I point out. "See if we can make any give up company secrets or whatever." It's pretty damn boring out here, so a little bit of fun messing with the bastards around here wouldn't go amiss…We stroll past the small, glass fronted establishment…and I catch a quick glimpse of the hanar within. Oh, I remember that guy! Wanted Shepard to smuggle stuff in for him, if I remember correctly. Which is actually illegal…maybe we should go and put a stop to it, now we've got five minutes.

Wrex smiles when he catches sight of the hanar. "How about him, then?" he asks. "Ever tried annoying a hanar before?"

"It can't be that hard, can it?" I reply. "He'll get annoyed if I look at him weird."

"Go and find out," Garrus prompts. "He's already looking at us. I think he wants to talk."

I shake my head in disbelief. "How fucking immature are you two? Sure, the people here are immoral, deceitful, uptight and generally a pain, but does that give us a right to annoy them for our amusement?" Garrus and Wrex both look blankly at me. "Yeah, it does." Both grin. This probably isn't a good idea, it's unprofessional…but I already know this guy is conspiring to smuggle contraband. So, technically, I'm doing the police here a favour. In the most annoying way possible for the hanar.

"It was your idea, you do the talking," Garrus says. "We'll just back you up." Oh, this is so dumb…and probably not the best way to have my first ever conversation with a hanar, especially if it ends up with him trying to wring my neck with one or all of those tentacles. 'Natural toxins and a strong grip' doesn't sound appealing. All I need is 'Don't Stop Me Now' playing as we walk into the shop, and the scene would be set perfectly for some reason…right, let's see if I can shut down a smuggling operation in less than five minutes. It took months at C-Sec, so this should be interesting…

"Hey," I smile, walking towards him with Garrus and Wrex following behind, faces stony and impassive.

"This one offers greetings," it replies. Oh my God, that voice is so bloody weird…as is the alien itself. Hanar are cool, but still… "You are the Spectre that visits Port Hanshan?" Oh, crap, I wasn't expecting him to ask that. But, if we're going to stop him from smuggling…

"Yeah, I am," I reply. Wrex grunts slightly behind me, but thankfully doesn't laugh. "You found out quick. I've only been here for a few minutes."

"Indeed." the hanar says. "A Spectre arriving is big news. Your arrival was not greeted with any joy by the companies here. However, this one has a burden you could ease." Oh, here we go! "If an arrangement could be made, it would compensate you."

"What kind of arrangement?" I ask curiously, folding my arms.

"This one has a special item for a customer," it explains. "The item is not permitted within the status. But you could bring it through customs."

I smile. "So, you want me to use my status to smuggle for you?"

"That is…not inaccurate."

I raise an eyebrow. Time to convince him smuggling isn't a good idea. "Right, that's all I needed to hear. I'm here to investigate allegations of conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods, and you've given me everything I need. You're under arrest." I don't actually move in, but the hanar's tentacles spread slightly and its body starts doing an odd movement, presumably in panic.

"It was just a proposition! This one has no intention of causing a problem or breaking the law!"

"Really?" Garrus asks. It actually feels like C-Sec all over again, except without paperwork waiting for us later! I love it! "Because you've managed to do both."

"This one asks for forgiveness," the hanar says, sounding pretty desperate now. "It will not seek business in this way again!" I turn to look at Wrex and Garrus, amazed with both how quickly and how well this is going. I couldn't arrest the guy even if I wanted to…but there's no way he's gonna try breaking the law again now! Not for a while, anyway.

"Look," I finally say, quietly. "You seem like an alright person. I'll forget about this, for one time only, if you forget about that illegal item for that customer. Got it?"

"This one understands," it replies. "It thanks you for your compassion."

"It shouldn't worry about it," I say, barely able to suppress laughter. One potential criminal nullified…if only it was normally this easy. "We'll know if you try again though. We always do." I give him the 'I'm watching you' gesture, then slowly back out of the door with Garrus and Wrex, and walk calmly around the corner out of its eyesight. Then start laughing.

Man, I love being a jerk. I think that counts as Paragon because I stopped him from smuggling…even if I bullshitted my way through the entire thing.

"I can think of worse ways to kill five minutes," Wrex finally chuckles.

"Like what?" a feminine voice asks from behind us. We all whirl around, and Shepard and Liara are standing there, the Commander's arms folded.

"Erm…talking to the people here," I quickly say the first thing that comes into my head. "Nobody seems to like us."

"Tell me about it," Shepard sighs, and Liara smiles. Looks like they've sorted out Liara's issues…it's probably better Liara isn't back on the ship, actually. This is something she needs to see, to deal with. She gets left behind now, all she's gonna have is regrets. "We should go and see Anoleis as soon as possible. The sooner we get off here, the better."

I nod. "I think we can all agree with that. Though something tells me it's not going to be as easy as just talking to him and heading off on our merry way."

"That wouldn't surprise me either," Shepard frowns. "At least geth are up-front by just shooting at you. With these people they're playing three different games with you at once, and the rest are lining up shots at your back."

Garrus just shrugs. "Nobody really likes bureaucracy and stuff. Except maybe volus, which is useful for us turians."

"Too bad we don't have a volus, then, that could be useful. We could call Hante from that shop we went to during the elcor killings, see if he wants to come along?" Garrus snorts with laughter as we head towards Anoleis's office.

"What's so funny?" Shepard asks curiously.

"I don't think Hante wants to talk to either of us, ever again," Garrus sighs. "He had some information on an elcor serial killer for Ian and I which he withheld for a bit. We kind of had to persuade him around."

Shepard raises an eyebrow at both of us. "I'll bet you did…" The two turian guards both give us idle glances as we walk past, looking extremely bored. Probably for good reason. I can't imagine much happening around here, to be honest…

"Commander," Parasini greets Shepard warmly. At least I know there's one good person on the planet…well, her and Lorik Qui'in. "How can I help you?"

"I think we both know," Shepard replies irritably. "I'd like to speak to Anoleis."

Parasini smiles. "One moment please. Mr. Anoleis?"

"_Yes, what? What!" _the voice comes back, sounding even more impatient than Shepard does at the moment. These two are going to get on so well…

"Commander Shepard is asking to see you, sir."

"Fine, send her in!" Anoleis says abruptly, and the line goes dead. Parasini gestures for us to head through. Shepard gives her a nod of the head in thanks, and we all stride through into the next room, where Anoleis sits, haughty expression on his face. I hope Shepard hits him. Or Wrex, that would be better.

"You will excuse me if I don't get up," he says rudely, staring at Shepard. "I don't really have time for this."

"I can already tell we're going to get along so well," the Commander sighs.

I _love _negotiations with Shepard.

**A/N: Well, hopefully that set the scene for Noveria (i.e. everyone's a bastard.) Next chapter: Getting pissed off at Anoleis! Data recovery! Turians who have a surprising interest in humanity and get their idioms slightly mixed! More getting pissed off at Anoleis! (It might be a bit deeper than that, depends how creative I'm feeling after getting stuffed on mince pies.)**

**This might be the last chapter until after Christmas…I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to get one out before-hand. So, in advance…Merry Christmas everybody :-). Hope you all get what you're after. If you don't celebrate Christmas, have a happy holiday/December 25****th**** anyway.**

**444 reviews, which is a rather cool number to be at (because it's recurring. That's not actually cool, just nerdy, but whatever. It looks nice.) Thanks to you all for that, as usual, it's fantastic. **

**Oh yeah, CitadelGamesSalesman, you might not be getting alerts if you're on an AOL email address. Also, I can't reply to your reviews because your PM function is off, if you didn't know.**

**I'm **_**gone.**_


	22. Ian vs The Corollary

Chapter 22

Circa Survive: Frozen Creek

**A/N: Christ, this took a while! First Christmas meant I didn't write (not that I'm complaining about Christmas, it was **_**good**_**), then I got roped into going on holiday for two days…so now I'm finally back to writing! **

**So, where we left off, Liara is on the ground squad on Noveria to face her mother, Ian pretended to be a Spectre to stop the smuggling hanar, and Shepard was about to start her 'chat' with Anoleis. So let's get back into it!**

I leap forward, delivering a furious right hook into Anoleis's smug face, his head slamming into the desk and cracking the glass slightly. Shepard dashes up and grabs the garage pass from his desk, Garrus and Wrex drawing their weapons and Liara flaring up her biotics. We all dash out, the turian and krogan dispatching the guards outside the front of the office, and the sprint towards the garage begins as an alarm sounds all around the area. We round a corner, and Sergeant Stirling is there, but Wrex just blows her up with his mind…

"Ian," Garrus whispers, nudging me on the shoulder slightly and snapping me out of my daydream while Shepard continues to 'talk' to the Administrator. "You okay? You looked really distant."

Shit, daydreaming on the mission…good thing we weren't being shot at! Though now I'm worried Wrex can blow people up with his mind…damn my overactive imagination combined with firmly ingrained paranoia! Though if he does make Stirling explode with the power of thought alone, I for one won't be complaining. "I'm fine," I whisper back quickly. "Just bored, thinking about something else."

"Bored?" the turian asks incredulously. "This is entertaining. Shepard's tearing into him."

I take a glance around at Anoleis and the Commander, and indeed she's standing over his desk, towering over the salarian who's surveying her coolly. "Only co-operate as required by the executive board?" Shepard snaps, raising her voice. "Some committee wants to get in the way of the law?"

"You ask me, the best kind of committee has three people on it. Two of whom are absent," Wrex grunts. Well said, mate!

Anoleis shakes his head disdainfully. "Good thing nobody asked you then, krogan." Wrex's hands ball into fists, but thankfully he doesn't react. Is that thankful, actually? He might be thinking the same thing as my daydream now… "Businesses come here to escape the law's second guessing, anyway."

"Well they haven't done a good job, because I'm here now," Shepard retorts.

"Be that as it may," Anoleis replies, raising his voice. "I won't allow you to harass clients. This is a private world."

"And I won't allow you to obstruct my investigation," the Commander growls, leaving the threat hanging in the air for extra effect. "I've heard an asari matriarch by the name of Benezia is here? What brought her out to Noveria?"

The administrator nods his head reluctantly. "In regards to your first question, you're correct. She's up at Peak 15 with a personal escort and cargo. As for what she's doing, even if I knew I'm not at liberty to say. Why do you want to know?" It barely sounds like a question, more of an order.

"Sorry, I'm not at liberty to say," Shepard replies, small grin forming on her face as Anoleis frowns. She's _good_…especially at winding people up. "So you've got no idea why she might have come here?"

"Saren is a major shareholder in Binary Helix," he finally admits. "Lady Benezia is his executor. She is authorised to act in his name, and there were issues at Peak 15 that required Saren's attention." Shepard quickly glances over to Garrus and I, raising an eyebrow. That does sound interesting, not gonna lie…

"And her 'personal escort'?" Shepard asks. "What would that constitute to?"

"The phrase is fairly self-explanatory," Anoleis says, tone of voice suggesting his patience is wearing thing. "Asari commandos, mainly." Right, I'm calling him out on that!

"I thought weapons weren't allowed on Noveria," I point out. "So you let highly armed asari in, then try to stop a Spectre and her crew? Strikes me as odd."

Anoleis glares at me. He keeps getting owned by all of us, so I can see why he'd be getting angry… "They passed our regulations. I had no reason to stop Lady Benezia from taking them." I shake my head disdainfully at his answer, but don't take it any further. He had plenty of reason to stop her, just nothing more important than whatever Saren's paying him. Scumbag.

"Whatever," Shepard says impatiently. "I just need to see her. Now." I'm getting fairly sick of Anoleis's voice and general mannerisms…so ending the conversation suits me fine and dandy. Wrex still looks intent on wringing the administrator's neck, so hopefully he'll discover his psychic powers soon. If only daydreams happened.

"You can't," Anoleis replies smugly and simply. Prick! "Peak 15 is a private facility in the Skadi Mountains. Plus there's a blizzard in the area, shuttles and surface access are cut off." Garrus shivers involuntarily next to me at the word 'blizzard'…aw, maybe Shepard should warm him up with a hug.

No! Bad thoughts! Wrex is getting to me with his crazy theories more than I'd like!

"Surface access…" Shepard muses quietly.

"Cut off!" Anoleis shouts. "This isn't an issue, Shepard!"

Liara shakes her head. "I have seen his type before, Commander. Let him be like he is, someone more cordial may be able to assist us."

"I'm inclined to agree. I'm getting this horrible itch on my trigger finger," Shepard sighs. "Anyone else getting that?"

"Yep," I nod, and Garrus does next to me. "Must be something going around."

"Good day, Commander," Anoleis says firmly. "Every second of my time you wasted cost the company twelve credits. I should have kept a tally."

Shepard shakes her head at the salarian. "Every second of mine you wasted by dodging questions, one person probably died I could have been helping. Maybe I should tally as well." With that, she marches out the room, and we all follow behind. Wrex, Garrus and I all shoot glares at Anoleis as we leave, which he promptly ignores and turns back to his terminal.

"I hope for his sake he dodges bullets as well as he dodges questions," Shepard mutters to everyone as we head towards Parasini's desk, "because next time we talk I might not be able to contain myself. Egotistical bastard."

Wrex nods enthusiastically. "Just say the word, Shepard. Killing our enemies is business, killing someone like him is a favour to the galaxy." I wonder if Wrex is open to the concept of high-fives when he says something awesome…actually, that's a pretty big shotgun he's got there. On second thoughts, maybe not.

"When we discover the centre of the universe, he's gonna be _really _disappointed when it turns out it's not him," I say dryly, getting a laugh for my troubles. Including one from Parasini.

"You know," she chuckles. "He's not the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan."

Shepard raises an eyebrow, turning to face Anoleis's secretary. Or the Internal Affairs agent, as I prefer to think of her as. Practically the only ally we've got around here… "Is that so?"

"Never worked in the corporate world before, have you?" she asks, looking all of us in the eye. "You can't bludgeon your way through bureaucracy."

"We can bludgeon pretty damn hard," Garrus points out, raising another smile from Parasini.

"You should talk to Lorik Qui'in," she whispers, looking at Shepard and quickly glancing around to make sure no-one's listening in. "He's probably in the hotel bar. He can help you."

Shepard looks a little taken aback, but nods anyway. "Alright, I'll look into it." Parasini smiles happily, and turns back to her terminal.

"I can't say anymore in earshot of Anoleis," she continues quietly. "Go!"

So we do.

#######

We all stand outside Anoleis's office, and I can faintly hear the two guards behind us talking as Shepard gets ready to brief us.

"So anyway," one of the assault rifle wielding turians says to the other, "the game is _so _much better than the fanfic…"

"I don't care!" the other one moans. "I just want a doughnut!" What the fuck? I vaguely remember the doughnut guy, but one reads fanfic? Before I can listen in any more though, Shepard starts talking.

"So, what do people think about this Qui'in person?" she asks.

I may as well use whatever knowledge I've got to subtly help out, I suppose… "Looks like it's either him or Anoleis who've got passes, and to be honest I don't fancy helping the administrator out at all," I say, getting nods from around the squad. Including one from Shepard.

"Normally I wouldn't suspect a turian could help us, but I'll make another exception," Wrex mutters. Garrus glares at him slightly, but doesn't rise to it.

Shepard grins. "Well, it's decided then. My instinct was to see what Qui'in's got to say as well. The hotel bar isn't far, everyone follow me." We all set off at a fairly relaxed pace, Garrus heading up with Shepard, literally jogging to catch up with her. Suspicious…Wrex just falls in slightly behind them, presumably to listen in, so I walk next to Liara. I haven't really talked to her since that one time on the Normandy, so it's cool.

"Hey," I smile, feeling a little awkward. She's got to be worried about Benezia, so maybe I should just leave her alone for a bit.

Thankfully, Liara smiles back. "Hello. That salarian was quite an idiot, obstructing Shepard like that."

"I can think of slightly more appropriate words than 'idiot', but I don't want to corrupt your innocence," I say. Liara laughs, but it makes me feel a little sad that the innocence _is _gonna be corrupted in two years or so. Makes me want to savour her being nice now, because it's gonna go to hell soon enough.

"That is…probably a fair comment," she admits. "Am I really that innocent, though? I'm familiar with curse words."

"I'm sure you are," I chuckle. "You're very polite, mind. You're like the last person I'd see getting angry on the ship…so yeah, you are quite innocent. In a good way. Though your competition for the position consists of Wrex, so you weren't going to have too much trouble there."

Liara nods. "That's true. How about you? Do you still have your innocence?"

"You tell me," I shrug. "I used to, but…the stuff I've done and seen, I think I lost it a while ago. Reality has a way of changing who you thought you were, adapting to survive. It's basic instinct. You get brought up in this protective bubble, but nothing can prepare you for what's actually out there…" Shooting someone back in 2010, where I came from, was a totally crazy concept…yet here I am, doing it on a regular basis. If that's not a loss of innocence, I don't know what is.

Liara frowns. "Do you think that might happen to me too?" Wow, way to put me in an awkward position, Liara…

"I don't know," is all I can say. I don't want to point blank deny it, not when I know it will actually happen…but just saying yes is kind of harsh. It's something she's got to deal with herself, not for me to say.

"Finding my mother might change it," she continues, sad edge to her voice.

"You're not optimistic?" I ask, feeling pretty low. Is it right to lead her on? Then again, what if she _does _talk Benezia down?

Liara shakes her head. "I'm in between pessimism and optimism. Confused."

"It'll work itself out," I say reassuringly. "These things always do."

"What do you think?" Liara asks, looking at me searchingly. I know what she wants to hear, for me to say it's all going to be fine, because it's exactly what I wanted when Saleon took Rebecca. It's what kept me going until I could get my closure on it by seeing her dead…Liara deserves the same until she gets her closure. It seemed to work for me, anyway, considering Saleon's in a C-Sec cell presumably having his life made a living hell and I don't think I've got any emotional scars from the whole thing.

I hope.

"If she's working for Saren, I doubt it's of her own free will," I say softly. "Maybe seeing you will snap her out of it. It's worth a shot." The elevator up to the bar is looming ahead, as the rest of the squad pile in…but just before we do, Liara suddenly turns around…and quickly gives me a hug.

"Thanks," she says, smiling slightly as she lets go and rushes into the elevator.

Erm…what the fuck just happened?

Shepard beckons to me impatiently. "Don't just stand there, Ian, come on!" I walk towards the elevator, still taken aback by Liara. Maybe she's just assuming it's a way of thanks or whatever for humans…God, I hope she's not coming onto me. I like Liara as a friend, but I mean…we've only talked twice! I'm _really _not interested in that! I can feel myself blushing as I walk into the elevator, Christ... She does pretty much leap at Shepard in Mass Effect 1…but I'm not Shepard. The only time we sort of get a role reversal, it's for this? Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, just an innocent little thing.

I try to hide the blushing as we rise up. She's just saying thanks, it doesn't _mean _anything. Girls hug people all the time without wanting them…damn it, I don't want to romance Liara and now it's making me all nervous!

"Ian, why are you…blushing, is it?" Garrus asks, grin on his face. Fuck's sake, not now! Why must your mates always insist on taking the piss out of you at inopportune times…

"Reach and flexibility, Garrus," I say quickly, causing Shepard to curiously raise an eyebrow and Garrus's fringe to promptly turn blue. Payback!

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shepard asks, making Garrus turn an even darker shade of blue.

I shake my head. "Maybe Garrus'll tell you later, I don't know."

"Maybe he will," she grins. Mercifully for Garrus, the elevator doors open up into the bar…and I immediately catch sight of Qui'in's awesome facial markings. There's our man!

Shepard strides out purposefully towards him…until a shout from an asari next to us stops her in her tracks. "Excuse me! I need a moment of your time!"

The Commander sighs, then looks to Garrus and I. "Ian, you know Garrus pretty well, so you must be aware of turian mannerisms, right?"

"Yeah, I gue- "

"Good." Shepard doesn't wait for an answer. "Garrus, you're a turian…"

"Well observed," Garrus comments dryly, getting him a glare from Shepard.

"Like I was saying," she continues, "you're a turian, so you should talk to him. Relate to each other, or something like that. Just try and get a garage pass, alright?" Ironically, Qui'in's more interested in talking to a human than turian, I think…but whatever. This should be fun. Fun being the operative word.

Garrus frowns. "Do you not just want us to wait until you're done here?"

"Garrus," Shepard explains patiently, "I want to get out of here as quickly as possible, and relieve stress by shooting something. This speeds things along nicely, and I was planning to have you and Ian sit in on the conversation anyway."

"Oh," Garrus says. "Right."

"Come on," I mutter, grabbing the turian by the arm and steering him towards Lorik, as Shepard and the others turn to the asari. "Try not to make a fool of yourself in front of Shepard, mate. It makes us look bad."

Lorik looks surprised for a split second upon working out we're approaching him, but the expression quickly turns bored again as he looks back at his drink. He actually has two empty seats at his table…so Garrus and I both sit down, making him look up. Don't pretend you're not interested, Qui'in…

"Afternoon," he says politely. Okay, he already doesn't sound your typical turian…more like a stately gentleman than anything else. I like him! The look on Garrus's face suggests he's thinking the same thing as me about Lorik not being your average turian…though that seems to be worrying Garrus more than anything. Oh well. "Settle down, get comfortable. Are you getting a drink?"

"No thanks, mate, we're here on business. Assuming you're Lorik Qui'in." I smile, settling back in the seat. Garrus seems pretty alienated (oh the irony) so I'm probably gonna be doing the talking.

"I am. Business?" Lorik asks, lowering his drink. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before, Mr…"

I reach out a hand for him to shake. "Ian. Just Ian, please."

"Ian," he says, grasping my hand firmly in his talon. "The pleasure's mine." Awkward…but since he's got our ticket out of here, better not blow it. "So, what business brings you to me?"

"You're new around here…so I assume you're with the Spectre that just arrived?" I nod. I think pretending to be a Spectre twice in a row is probably a bad move…just confirm I'm with her. There's no point denying she's a Spectre anyway, if that hanar found out I assume Lorik will have as well…"What could an old turian possibly help a Spectre with?"

"You'd be surprised," I grin. "That said, are you actually allowed to talk to us?"

He shakes his head, smiling slightly. "No. Pictures of your commander and the rest of your squad have been sent out to every employee. Talking to you is actually grounds for termination."

"Yet here we are," I reply. "That doesn't seem to worry you too much. Is your position so bad you don't care about termination?"

Lorik shakes his head. "On the contrary. I am the manager of the Synthetic Insights office. At least, for now."

"Work must be difficult," I say, gesturing towards the drinks spread out in front of him. "I thought drinking on the job was frowned upon. Along with not being in your office."

"It is. I'm not here out of choice," he explains. "Mr. Anoleis closed my office, claiming to be investigating reports of my corruption." There's a short silence as he finishes his sentence. "Thank you for not asking if I am corrupt," he continues. "Interestingly, the administrator has become rather wealthy after taking direct control of rents."

"I'll bet he has…" I nod slowly. "I'm seeing a correlation there."

"Indeed," Lorik says darkly. "Now, to the reason he closed my offices. I acquired evidence of his actions. His hired goons are currently ransacking my office in an attempt to find it."

I smile, fiddling with one of my pistols slightly. "I think I can see where this is going."

"You can, what's the human idiom…'do the math'?" Lorik asks. "I suspect whatever you and your Spectre boss are after lies beyond this port. Recover the evidence for me, I will give you my garage pass. Along with some credits." Money? That suits me fine…

"Is there a plan beyond just going in all guns blazing?" I ask, secretly hoping that _is _the plan.

"Yes. Ideally, you'll just be able to walk into the office and past Anoleis's men. However, there is…what is that charming human expression? 'Fly in the lotion?' I'm hoping violence won't be necessary, but unfortunately these hired goons are of the armed and dangerous type. They're members of Hanshan's security team, but their commander, Ms. Matsuo…she is unaware of that. Anoleis is paying them under the table."

"We'll do what we can. If we're lucky, there won't be any fighting," Garrus says. Ah, so he _does _have a voice! About time he spoke up.

Qui'in grins widely, settling back in his seat. "Excellent!" From seemingly nowhere, he produces a keycard. Huh, part time magician as well… "Here is my pass into our offices, it will activate the elevator. As for the evidence, it is in my office computer. This OSD contains the encryption key to access it, just slide it into the drive."

"Will do," I reply, smiling and rising to my feet, Garrus and Lorik following suit. Yay, I didn't blow it! "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Qui'in. Your interest in our species is good to see, considering the…animosity between our two species most of the time. Good effort with the human idioms as well."

"Thank you," he says, nodding his head slightly to me. "I enjoyed our talk as well. Hopefully we'll meet again soon. Good day, Ian." With that, he sits back down and turns his attention back to his drink. Looks like that's our cue to leave…so Garrus and I turn around, just in time to see the asari Shepard was talking to pretty much running away from the Commander and towards the elevator.

"And don't come back!" Shepard shouts, just as the elevator doors slide closed. I don't remember _that _from Mass Effect 1! Garrus and I both exchange glances, then briskly head over to Shepard. Liara is looking pretty shocked, Wrex on the other hand is grinning, presumably because of how Shepard dealt with that asari.

I raise an eyebrow on approach, as Shepard turns to face us. "Someone rubbed you up the wrong way?"

"You can say that again," Shepard mutters. "Stupid girl wanted me to wiretap a Binary Helix employee, which is massively illegal, then offers me five hundred credits to do it like that's some kind of massive reward. Everyone here wants something, I swear…"

"Yeah," I say, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck and thinking back to that hanar. "This might cheer you up. Lorik Qui'in does have a garage pass."

Shepard frowns. "But…"

"But he needs us to break into his office at Synthetic Insights and recover evidence that Anoleis is corrupt for him, but apparently Anoleis has armed members of the port security team in there so we might have to fight our way through. We do that, he'll give us a garage pass," Garrus explains. Shepard raises a hand to her chin, looking thoughtful.

"What's he planning to do with that evidence?" she asks.

"No idea," I shrug. "You don't seem too surprised Anoleis is corrupt."

"He's an ass," Shepard grins. "I'd have been more surprised if he didn't have any skeletons in his closet. Alright, we'll take the elevator up and see what we- "

"You!" a slightly disembodied voice suddenly shouts, pitch changing as it sounds. I know that voice…oh, for fuck's sake. I cringe slightly as I turn around, and see the hanar who was trying to smuggle facing Shepard and I. You've got to be shitting me… "This one was lied to!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" the Commander asks incredulously, looking over at me. Goddammit, why did this have to come back and bite me in the ass…

"You are the Spectre, not him!" the hanar says, pointing an accusing tentacle at me. Aagghh, I don't want to see what those natural toxins Thane talks about are like…

Shepard folds her arms, unimpressed. "No shit, pal." The hanar quivers at her use of language…good old excessive politeness. "This is an issue why?"

"Your friend posed as a Spectre when talking to this one about an offer this one intended to make to you. This one was deceived by him!" The tentacle is still all up in my grill, and it's making me fairly uncomfortable…

"Ian, is that true?" Shepard asks, turning to face me. God, she's not looking happy.

"Whoa, Shepard, just hear me out," I say quickly. "I did pose as a Spectre, but only because- "

"This one still has a proposition to make to you, Spectre," the hanar says quietly, interrupting me. "This one has procured an item for a customer, but needs your clearance to get it through customs."

"Smuggling?" Shepard asks. "What did Ian say?"

The hanar _finally _retracts the tentacle, and rotates slightly in the air to face Shepard directly. "He turned this one down, and threatened to arrest me."

"You know," the Commander says softly. "I operate a three strikes system with petty criminals such as yourself." I just manage to hold back a huge sigh of relief. Thank Christ, she's siding with me. Sort of. "The first strike was my soldier here telling you it wasn't going to happen, and giving you a warning, even if he wasn't in a position to make it. Second strike is me turning you down, and giving you this warning. If I hear about you trying this stunt again, that's the third strike. And third strike?" She draws her pistol, and inspects it. "Third strike you're out. You get me?"

The hanar slowly begins to float backwards towards the elevator. "This one understands," he says nervously. "This one shall forget all about it."

"I think that's a good idea," Shepard mutters, holstering the pistol. "Now get out of here." The hanar floats into the elevator, frantically stabbing a button, and it quickly descends down and out of our sight. God, that was close…Shepard swivels to look at me, and boy does she look _pissed._ Looks like I spoke too soon!

"You do realise impersonating a Spectre is a criminal offence, Ian?" Shepard asks. "I could arrest you for that, you know."

"Shepard, he's a criminal. He was the one who put the idea in my head, I wouldn't have put him off otherwise- "

"But you didn't put him off at all! Because he just came back here to ask me!" she says, raising her voice slightly but not shouting so we don't draw attention to ourselves. "So all you did was advertise our presence here even more!" Damn, she's right…

I shake my head. "Shepard, I'm really sorry…I didn't think of it like that."

"No," she says. "You didn't think. I appreciate you were trying to stop a criminal, but the means of which you went about it are _totally _unacceptable. I'm disappointed."

_I'm disappointed. _Such a simple phrase, but it hits really damn hard. Especially since I know she's right. I was irresponsible, and now I'm paying the price. "Commander, I didn't mean for it to turn out like this."

"Of course you didn't, Ian, you're better than that. But the problem is it did," she says. "There's no point dwelling on it now, anyway. We've got some evidence to get first. We can talk about your conduct later, after the mission."

I drop my head slightly. It was all going so well…and I've messed up really bad. I'm not even feeling indignation about it, because at the end of the day I totally brought this upon myself. That's what hurts the most. "Alright," I finally say. Worst case scenario, this could mean I'm benched for other missions, part of the squad but never going out on missions…I'm probably exaggerating, but the thought's nagging away in the back of my head.

"You're a valuable squad member, Ian," Shepard mutters, as we all walk towards the elevator up to Synthetic Insights in relative silence. "But…I don't know." She punches the button to take us up to the office, and I lean against the wall of the elevator, resting my head against it and closing my eyes.

I fucking hate hanar.

**A/N: Well, Shepard isn't too happy with Ian. Duh. It'll take something special to make up for that, right?**

**So, next we've got Qui'in's evidence, and the inevitable Mako ride up to Peak 15. Will yet another Mako get destroyed? Though that would be pretty unfortunate because we'd still need it to get back…**

**Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, or a happy holiday for those who don't celebrate it! **

**Thanks to all my reviewers, as always, and for your patience in waiting for this chapter to come out. (It's been over a week, which is ages…). Hopefully I won't take that long for next chapter!**

**See ya next time! **


	23. Ian vs The Evidence

Chapter 23

Sex Bob-Omb: Threshold

**A/N: Shepard might have seemed surprisingly volatile last chapter (and the one before a bit, to be honest). That trend is going to continue here, but don't freak out. There's a reason, though it won't emerge for a little while.**

**Onwards!**

Shepard's not in a good mood today. At all.

The thought occurs to me as we rise up in the elevator, which unsurprisingly is taking an age to reach out destination, after I think back to the start of the mission. Admittedly, I probably haven't helped the situation…but she's been unusually cross. I'm not saying getting annoyed with Anoleis, Stirling and the rest isn't justified…but still, Shepard's normally a bit more diplomatic then this. She talked over me when I was trying to present my case too, which isn't like here. I reckon something's up…too bad I'm not really in a position to ask about it.

"Cheer up," Garrus whispers next to me. "Shepard's angry at the people here, not you, that's probably why she reacted so badly. She'll be over it soon."

I shake my head. "I don't think it's that simple. She's been wired a bit before we talked to our first person here. But thanks for the moral support anyway."

"No problem," he grins. "It's bad luck that hanar actually found us ag- "

"Something you want to share with the group, Garrus?" Shepard asks casually, glancing around to look at him. Slight fringe blush, _again_…she's got some kind of influence over him, making Garrus get so shy around her. Like he does in Mass Effect 2…

I'm getting more and more convinced by Wrex. I mean, he's been around for so long, he's got to have a pretty good idea…and I'd like to think I know Garrus well enough to have an idea about this kind of thing. Something for back on the Normandy.

Though I could be spending a lot of time on that ship, depending on how Shepard reacts back on the ship. Too bad there's not geth armatures around here for me to knife in some stupid attempt to redeem myself or whatever by being badass.

"No, Shepard," he replies quickly, as the reach finally reaches the Synthetic Insights office. And opens out to show two guards down the end of a long corridor, one human woman and a turian. Qui'in did say we might have to start fighting at some point…

Shepard sighs and shakes her head as we all step out and head towards the guards, drawing her pistol but leaving it hanging by her side in one hand. At least she's not going in all guns blazing…hopefully we can talk our way around this one. Or she can, anyway.

"Freeze!" the woman shouts, and we all grind to a halt in front of her, surveying the two guards casually. Even if they want to make something of this, they really don't have a chance. Still, the less people we kill, the better… "Hanshan security. This office is sealed."

"Relax," Shepard smiles reassuringly. "Lorik Qui'in gave me a pass in."

The woman raises an eyebrow, obviously not convinced. "Qui'in? He's under investigation! What, are you working for him?"

"Look, we know Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down," Shepard says, almost sounding bored at the exchange. "I'm betting Matsuo doesn't know you're here. I imagine this kind of thing getting reported probably won't be best for your career."

The woman holds up her hands, while the turian next to her puts his assault rifle away. Ah, this seems to have gone rather well! "I'm not the one who wants Qui'in!" she protests. "Anoleis has a varren up his ass about this guy!" I can't help laughing a bit when she says that, but fortunately Garrus and Wrex join in, so I don't look like a total idiot.

"This isn't your fight," Shepard points out. "You just pretend you didn't see us, we didn't see you. Alright?"

"Suits me," the woman nods, indicating for her turian friend to follow her and striding past us towards the elevator. Nicely done for Shepard…even if she's not in a good mood, she's still got the charm when she needs it. Too bad she's not using it on me.

"Good thing they were sensible," I say. "Qui'in'll probably be grateful if we don't get too many bloodstains all over the place."

Wrex leans over and punches me on the arm, presumably lightly by krogan standards, but for a human that fucking wrecks! Ow! "Don't be such a pacifist, Ian. There's glory in battle."

"There's not much glorious about killing," I mutter, as we advance cautiously forward. "It's a mean to an end, nothing more."

"Even for someone like Saren?" Wrex mutters.

"I'd rather talk someone down if the option was there than blow their head off," I reply. "I wouldn't be losing any sleep over killing someone evil, or who fired at us first…I just reckon it's best to avoid conflict when you can. Better to reform someone than just end them."

"Nice ideal, but naïve," Wrex grunts. "You take a second to talk, that's long enough for them to put a bullet in your skull."

"I'm not saying talk to someone if they're shooting at me!" I protest. "I'm not for senseless violence, that's all."

"Neither am I," the krogan says. "But when the fight has to be done, defeating your enemy is glory."

I shrug. "Suit yourself, mate." I'm arguing against him, but he does kind of have a point…I can't say I don't get a kick out of perfectly sniping a geth or some other enemy. Then again, there's a difference between admiring skill and taking some kind of glory from it…I dunno. Only fight when it's necessary, that's my policy.

Rounds suddenly whizz past the corner Shepard peeks around at the top of a set of stairs, as three guards duck and weave between chairs and tables laid out in the area.

"Still think talking's going to help?" Wrex asks sarcastically, reaching for his shotgun.

I whip out both pistols, and glance at the area ahead. Big potted plant with a concrete based pot…that should do nicely for cover! "No, I think this is classed as necessary violence!" I reply, then sprint forward. The pot's about five metres away, the floor looks pretty shiny…I quickly drop down to my knees and slide the last bit into cover, firing with both pistols at a turian as I go, making an impact on his shields.

I'm surprised to see Liara at the front of battle, popping out from her cover with biotics flared…and wrenching one of the plants from the floor. Holy shit…with a small sound of effort, she hurls it at the human guard, catching him in the chest and sending him flying into a wall with a sickening crunch.

_Damn, _she's lethal. Creative with her killing, as well. Chuck Greene would be impressed.

I can hear one of the other guards approaching my position…but as I peek out at him, he's facing the wrong direction to me. Wow, he's got no idea I'm here…so if he just comes a little closer…the turian steps towards me. Perfect! I lunge out, grab him by his collar by surprised, and before he's got time to react swing him around and crack his head off my bit of cover, knocking him unconscious. Go to sleep! Thank you, Uncharted 2!

He's bleeding blue from his head injury…but is still breathing as Shepard blasts the remaining turian guard I hit on the my slide with biotics, followed up with a sniper headshot from Garrus. The guard next to me's not going to be getting up for a while, though, so it's good. Incapacitated rather than dead suits everyone fine, I imagine. Hopefully that still counts as a kill in the competition…yeah, it should do. Right?

"One to both of us, Ian," Garrus shouts happily. Yay, it did!

"We're pulling it back, Wrex!" I say to the krogan, who's walking up past my position as we head towards the office ahead, presumably Qui'in's. "You're only a few ahead now."

Wrex just shrugs as we advance towards the office. "It's a marathon, not a sprint. I've got it in the long run."

"Keep telling yourself that," Garrus chuckles, earning him a filthy look of Wrex that he either doesn't see or just ignores. Qui'in's office is pretty much empty, just his computer in the corner…which Shepard has got turned on, and is frowning at. Oh yeah, I've got the OSD! I stroll up next to her, and produce it from my pocket.

"Think this'll help?" I ask, smiling.

Shepard smiles a little, but her tone's still stern as she takes it from me. "It should do. Though it might have been an idea to give this to me before we got into the office." She's picking up on everything today!

"I was a bit pre-occupied with that hanar and you lecturing me," I counter. "Not that the lecture was undeserved," I quickly add, catching Shepard's look.

The computer flashes as the evidence download completes, and Shepard withdraws the OSD, looking at it curiously. Huh? What's up with her…

Garrus coughs quietly next to us, folding his arms. "So, are we taking it back to Qui'in, or just standing here?"

"Did he say what he was going to do with that evidence?" Shepard suddenly asks. I swear she said this back in the bar…

"No idea," I shrug. "Maybe use it to blackmail Anoleis so he can get his job back. Lorik wasn't particularly specific."

Shepard frowns, and turns to the door. "Then as much as it pains me to say it, we need to give this to Anoleis."

Hold up, _what? _"Shepard, are you kidding me?" I ask incredulously, unable to help myself from raising my voice. Is she out of her fucking mind?

"That man was an abomination," Liara adds. "Why should we give him evidence that will help him?"

"For all I know, Qui'in might be planning to go off planet with that evidence, sell it on to someone else," Shepard explains. "With that kind of evidence, someone could start blackmailing Anoleis, and gain influence over Noveria. I don't like this place, but it's an important part of the galactic economy. Anoleis is corrupt, but the risks giving that evidence to someone we don't even know is the greater of the two evils."

I can't believe what I'm hearing… "Shepard, that's ridiculous! The chances of that happening are miniscule in the first place, and Qui'in wouldn't do it anyway! He just wants his offices back!"

"You don't know him, Ian!" Shepard shouts back. _Shouts. _"What if that's just what he wants you to think? You talked to him once, you don't know the guy. I don't want to help Anoleis, but we don't have a choice!"

"I'm with Ian here," Garrus says. "Qui'in was eccentric, but he seemed trustworthy. We should give him a chance."

Wrex nods. "I just don't want to help that salarian. That turian's got more going for him than Anoleis ever will, and that's something coming from a krogan."

"Come on, Shepard," I plead. I'm amazed she's even considering giving evidence to Anoleis…something's on her mind at the moment, and it's affecting her judgement. She's shown a Renegade streak, but not this damn big… "Qui'in can help us end him!"

"I'm in command here, remember?" Shepard snaps. "The evidence is going to Anoleis. I'm not happy about this, but I'd rather that than some blackmailer seizing some kind of control. Trusting people doesn't always pay off," she mutters at the end. This can't be happening… "Ian, Garrus, Wrex, you can wait in the bar while I go and sort it out with him. I don't think he'll want to see us all again."

"Shepard…" I begin. That little line she muttered about trust not always paying off is playing on the edge of my mind for some reason. Maybe someone close to her betrayed her just before the mission, and she's still torn up about something personal? I don't know, but I wish I bloody did…

"I don't want to hear it!" she says. "You're on thin ice as it is, Ian." With that, she walks out of the office…straight into Sergeant Stirling.

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard," she comments, drawing a pistol while the two guards behind her hold assault rifles out. None of us move for our weapons, don't want to start them shooting just yet…

"Fuck off, Stirling," Shepard growls. Wow. "You gonna make me leave?"

"That would involve letting you walk out, so no," the other woman counters. "Anoleis would probably have you thrown off world for the damage you've caused here, but I prefer to be a bit more hands on. Especially with cop-killers like you lot."

That's uncalled for! "Hey, I actually knocked one out, so that's really not accurate…" Stirling just glares at me. Got to stop opening my mouth…

"I only kill the corrupt ones," Shepard replies. "Generally, police forces take a dim view of corrupt officers. Is that right, Garrus?"

The turian nods solemnly, reaching slowly for his pistol. I start to do the same, because it looks set to kick off… "Dim view is putting it nicely."

"Just get out of here," the commander says, glaring at Stirling. "No-one needs to get hurt. Besides, I'm taking the evidence to Anoleis anyway."

"Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that," Stirling shouts, reaching for her weapon. "As for no-one needing to get hurt, I can see five people in front of me who do!" She fires a shot at Wrex, but his barriers just absorb it. Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong, bitch! I take both pistols out, sniper rifle useless this close, and head behind the nearest plant. Who knew they made such good cover?

One of the other guards has got Garrus pinned down, but I lean out with my omni-tool. Things are about to get toasty!

I let loose the Incinerate, but cringe as I retreat back into cover as the guard catches alight. Things are about to get toasty? I actually thought that? The guard on fire stumbles towards me, lining her up perfectly for a volley of pistol shots that bring her down. Score! Now to take care of the other one…

I catch sight of her, just as she flares up blue and pushes her hands out towards me. A huge force knocks into my chest, knocking me flying backwards and into a wall, smashing the breath from my lungs as I slide down to the floor. Jesus, biotics…I try to draw in breath, but it's harder than arm-wrestling a krogan and my assailant is lining up an assault rifle shot…

At least, until her head goes flying off, courtesy of a shotgun blast from Wrex. Oh, that's brutal…then again, what can I expect from Wrex?

Stirling backs up towards cover, but she's caught and she knows it, turning her pistol towards Shepard and firing at the commander as fast as she can. It doesn't really work. Liara sends a warp sailing towards Stirling, bringing the bent cop to her knees, and Shepard lands the finisher with a biotic push that knocks her headfirst into a wall, blood splattering over it as she crumples to the floor. Bloodstains…sorry, Qui'in. Though considering it doesn't look like he's gonna get his evidence, bloodstains are the least of his worries…

Shepard runs over to the staircase, Garrus following close behind, and both begin shooting at the two guards hanging about down there, dispatching the pair with relative ease. That's a one sided fight, alright.

"Everyone, in the elevator," Shepard calls. "Ian, Garrus, Wrex, just stay in the bar. And under no circumstances talk to Qui'in!" I nod as we all pile into the elevator, mood dropping as we descend to the floor. Though wait a minute…shouldn't Parasini show up down on the floor? I feel hope suddenly bloom in my chest as the elevator goes down in awkward silence. Maybe this won't end so badly after all!

After a minute of waiting, awkward silence constant throughout, the elevator doors finally open, and I spring out to see…nothing. Absolutely fuck all. No Parasini, nobody at all standing and waiting. The hope bloom dies almost as quickly as it appeared. Where the hell is she? Parasini missed her cue! Damn, damn, damn…

"I'll come and see you when I'm done," Shepard says stiffly. "Just head up and try not to cause any more trouble while I'm gone."

"Will do," I say glumly, as Shepard and Liara slowly stroll of towards the administrator's office, and we stride off to the bar. What is up with her…Garrus, Wrex and I bundle into the elevator in relative silence, which Wrex breaks as soon as we ascend.

"Is there something wrong with her that we should know about, turian?" Wrex asks Garrus. God, here we go…the chances of this being handled sensitively are about nought.

Garrus frowns, mandibles twitching slightly. "Not that I know of. Why are you asking me?"

"You seem to know the Commander best, the amount of time you spend around her," Wrex points out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Garrus asks, folding his arms.

Maybe I should intervene… "Wrex is just saying, you and Shepard hang around a lot. Not implying anything." The turian shifts his gaze onto me, not looking particularly impressed. "Fuck, that didn't really take the attention of the subject, did it?"

"Good job, Ian," Wrex grunts.

"Are you saying Shepard and I are…no," Garrus laughs. "We're just friends! That's all there is to it."

Wrex shrugs. "That's why I asked. You're 'friends', I thought you might now what's up with her. Shepard doesn't normally make bad decisions."

"Maybe it's not a bad decision," I sigh. "She's got no reason to trust that Qui'in won't pass it on to the Shadow Broker, or someone who could cause real damage around here." Even though I know he won't…I just can't say that! The elevator doors finally slide open, and we walk out into the bar. Shepard probably wouldn't appreciate it if we all got drunk, even if I don't drink…then again, first time for everything.

"He didn't seem the type," Garrus says. "She does tend to know best, though…hello, what's Parasini doing up here?"

"What?" I ask, quickly scanning around the room and catching sight of her, just as she sees us and beckons us over. I'm only too happy to oblige! Though time's against us now, so we might not have time for her secret agent/Internal Affairs antics.

"Where's your commander?" Parasini asks quickly as we approach. "Apparently there were loud noises from Synthetic Insights, and you were up there?"

Wrex crosses his arms and fixes Parasini with a hard stare. "We were up there, but I don't know what you're talking about with noises. As for Shepard, she's gone to see Anoleis."

"Damn," she mutters. "With the evidence?"

"Evidence?" Garrus asks, then his eyes light up. "I knew it! You don't work for Anoleis. You must be…Internal Affairs, maybe?" Wow, how the _shit _did he know that?

Parasini looks even more amazed than I am. "How did you work that out?"

"You pretty much confirmed it now," Garrus says, sounding very pleased with himself. "But when you were talking with Shepard earlier, you kept going on about 'how it's your job', stuff like that. It just sounded suspicious. I was a C-Sec detective for years, you learn to pick up on these little things." Shepard could be handing over that evidence as we speak…time to move things along a bit quicker.

"So, what does Internal Affairs want with a Spectre? Or some of her crew, anyway." I say, raising an eyebrow.

"The Executive Board does know Anoleis is corrupt," Parasini explains. "I've been undercover for six months. Good thing Anoleis's men aren't as good as you," she chuckles, looking at Garrus, "or I'd have been screwed."

Wrex suddenly looks alert. "So the board knew all along. Which means that we'd have been fine to give Qui'in the evidence, because the board already knew…so all we've done is help Anoleis get away with it."

"Not gonna lie, you've pretty much messed up my entire operation," Parasini scowls. "I think we can still pull this around though." God, you don't know how happy I am to hear that…

"As much as I like drama and suspense, you might want to hurry up and tell us," I prompt. "Anoleis could get his hands on that evidence really soon."

She laughs. "You don't hang about, do you? I like that. I'd like you to convince Qui'in to testify in front of the board. If he does, we should be able to swoop in and get that evidence back, provided he hasn't had enough time to destroy it, because our case should be watertight with Qui'in helping out. Maybe let this planet run profitably again."

Garrus nods, obviously convinced. "If you can get us a garage pass if we help you, then this sounds a lot better than giving that scumbag the evidence that could bring him down."

"You help me with this, I'll get you whatever you need. Favour for a favour," she nods.

"I already know him, so I should probably do the talking," I volunteer. "But we'll need to do this fast. Can you go back to Anoleis's office and try to stall them for a bit?"

Parasini nods. "I'll do my best, but that's not gonna buy you much time. You know where to find me when you're done. Don't mess this up." With that, she jogs towards the elevator. I hope she gets there in time…

"Shepard's already in a bad mood with you, Ian," Wrex points out. "Is this worth the risk?"

"Shepard doesn't know what Parasini told us. She's not stupid, far from it. She finds out what we just did, she'll be thanking us rather than lecturing us." That's the theory, anyway…

"Let's do it fast, then," Garrus says. "Ian, it's your time to shine."

"No pressure," I chuckle, then stride out towards Lorik. The turian waves at me when I approach, bless him.

"Always a pleasure to see you, Ian," he smiles as I sit down. "Can I offer you a drink?"

I shake my head. "Good to see you too, but no thanks, Lorik. This is pretty urgent."

"Has your commander abandoned you?" he asks, sounding amused as he looks around the bar. "I still haven't talked to her, which is a slight shame."

"I'm hurt, Lorik," I chuckle. "Am I not good enough company for you?" The turian laughs, downing his drink as he does. God, I'm getting sidetracked. "The main problem is the reason she's not here. We recovered the evidence from Anoleis's office, but she decided the best course of action would be to deliver it to him."

"What?" Qui'in asks incredulously, previous good humour evaporating instantly. "Why?"

I frown apologetically. "Long story short, she didn't trust you. Thought there was a risk the evidence would get out and people would use it to influence Anoleis, even though that wouldn't work because the board knows he's corrupt. We tried to convince her, mate, I'm sorry."

"So what now?" he sighs, leaning back in his chair. "Am I doomed to wander this bar for eternity?"

"Don't be so melodramatic," I smile. "There's always another way. An Internal Affairs agent just talked to me, if you agree to testify against Anoleis we'll have a strong enough case to go in there and take the evidence back. The evidence by itself isn't going to be enough, so even if we went and seized it now he'd probably still get away. If you do this, _then_ we can arrest him."

"So you don't even have my property, yet you wish to dictate how I use it?" Qui'in asks, actually sounding fairly cross. "My interest is not in a public spectacle."

"Look, Lorik, if you don't do this there's no way you'll get your offices back. Anoleis wins. Besides, Anoleis's corruption is affecting everyone on this station! You wouldn't just be helping yourself; you'd be a goddamn hero!" I point out. I hope that's enough…

"Ian, my employers rely on the goodwill of the Executive Board to work here-" Lorik begins.

"If these executives don't blame Anoleis for provoking this, they're fools!" a deep voice rumbles behind me, making me jump and swivel around to see Garrus and Wrex standing behind me. They must have come over to help, which is good…but I'm sick of Wrex being so damn stealthy against me! "You should eat them!"

I shrug. "You heard the man, that's some quality advice."

Qui'in sighs deeply, then breaks into a slight smile. "You're tenacious, I'll give you that. Alright, I will testify. Make your arrangements to recover the evidence, I will wait here."

Thank God for that! "I owe you one, mate," I say. "Seriously." Qui'in just chuckles and waves it away with a talon. "I'll take you up on that drink you keep offering me one day, I promise."

"You know," the turian smiles. "I look forward to it. Good luck retrieving that evidence."

"Thank you!" I say, unable to help smiling as I rise to my feet and dash towards the elevator, Garrus and Wrex following close behind.

########

"She's not answering over the radio," Garrus mutters, fiddling with his omni-tool as we sprint to Anoleis's office. "Must have turned it off for the meeting."

"Probably in case we tried a stunt like this," I say as we leap down the stairs four at a time and hit the home stretch to the office. "I'm gonna be pissed if he's already destroyed that evidence."

"That makes at least two of us," Wrex grumbles behind me, as we burst into the office and up to Parsini's desk.

The Internal Affairs agent raises an eyebrow expectantly at me as we grind to a halt in front of her desk, breathing heavily. "So? I assume he agreed?"

"Yep," I nod, grinning despite myself. Then again, we're not out of the woods yet… "So, what's the plan now?"

"I managed to stall the meeting a bit by calling through to Anoleis about some problem I made up, that held them off for about two minutes. Shepard's not left yet, so presumably he wouldn't have had time to destroy the evidence," she explains. "So, the plan's fairly simple." She reaches under her desk, and pulls out a pistol. Now we're talking! "We go in there, and arrest his corrupt ass."

"I like the sound of that," I say, following Parasini past her desk and towards Anoleis's door. This ought to be fun…just like old times in C-Sec. "Do you want to tell him he's under arrest, or should I?"

"Please, I've been working on this for six months," she chuckles. "Don't rob me of my moment of glory." With that, she presses the door console and strides through, all four of us with pistols up and pointing at Anoleis.

Shepard, unsurprisingly, looks dumfounded. As does Liara. "Ian! What the hell are you doing?" Just ignore her for now, and let Parasini do her thing…

"Administrator Anoleis, you're under arrest for corruption and extortion," the agent says coolly, walking over to the salarian and putting him in an armlock. "Spectre, have you given him the OSD yet?"

"No…" Shepard says slowly, opening her palm to reveal the data safely in it. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. "Look, just what's going on here?"

Parasini smiles a little bit as she addresses Shepard. "I'm actually Noverian Internal Affairs, the Executive Board already knew the administrator here was corrupt, but didn't have the evidence. It was lucky I found your squad in the bar, since we needed someone to convince Lorik Qui'in to testify against him. Which Ian here did a pretty good job of."

"Well, Garrus and Wrex helped out…" I begin, but Parasini shoots me a look which implies 'shut up'. I oblige.

"Wait, so people knew all along?" Shepard gasps. "Which means that even if the evidence got out, the board knew so it wouldn't be much good for blackmail. Which means I should have helped Qui'in…"

Garrus gives her a reassuring smile. "You didn't have the information we got a few minutes ago, though. You probably made the right call based on what you knew."

"I arranged a garage pass in return for your help, Ian," Parasini says, turning to me and passing it over. "You've been a big help. I owe you a beer sometime." Well, that's gonna make Ilium in Mass Effect 2 interesting…

"Well, make it a non-alcoholic one," I say, "but thanks. It's not too much of a hardship getting rid of scumbags like him."

"This is an outrage!" the salarian yells, prompting Parasini to tighten the lock a few notches. Man, he deserves that. "I'll see that you never work in this sector again."

The agent looks unimpressed. Hell, we all do. "Yeah, yeah. Get a move on," she says, dragging him out the room, but not before the salarian tries to get the last word in.

"You! Shepard!" he yells, looking at the commander. "I demand you place this bitch under arrest!"

"You know, I almost helped you get away with all this," Shepard says quietly. "I made an error in judgement, and that's really pissing me off. And so are you." With that, she takes two quick steps forward and punches Anoleis straight in the face, knocking the salarian out cold. Erm…I not sure whether to be worried or give Shepard a pat on the back. Definitely leaning towards the latter though.

"Thanks, Shepard," Parasini smiles. "Bastard's got the right to remain silent, but I wish he exercised it." She finally hauls the unconscious salarian out of the room, leaving me, Shepard and the rest of the squad standing in slightly amazed silence.

Maybe I should try and get a word in before Shepard does this time… "She approached us first, you know," I say. "We weren't looking for trouble, it just found us. As usual."

"Look, Ian, I made a bad call on this one," Shepard replies. "I should be thanking you, Garrus and Wrex for stopping it."

"Oh, come on," I smile. "You weren't to know Parasini was Internal Affairs, after all."

She shrugs. "Still, I knew Anoleis was corrupt, and I chose to help him over someone just trying to get his life back. We've both made a mistake today, Ian, and I think what you did back there might make that even." Wait, does that mean…

"No punishment?"

"We all make mistakes," she smiles. "I'm just not in a particularly trusting mood at the moment, what with…" Shepard pauses mid-sentence.

"What?" Garrus asks immediately. "What's wrong?"

The commander opens her mouth to say something…then closes it and frowns. "It's nothing. Come on, now we've got that garage pass, we should head up to Peak 15. Don't worry, Garrus, I'm still fit for duty. Something personal came up recently, that's all." Huh? Alright, now that _is _curious…God, I hope this isn't like Mass Effect 2 where people die at the end when they've got some unresolved personal thing…

"Is it-" Garrus begins, but Shepard cuts him off.

"I'm fine, alright?" she says calmly, but her patience is obviously wearing thin about it. "I was feeling it at the start of the mission, but I'm over it now. After making that kind of mistake, I'm keeping my eye firmly on the ball. Besides, this is something for back on the Normandy. Let's get moving." With that, she heads out of the office, and the rest of us follow close behind. I glance over at Garrus, who just shrugs, looking confused.

Guess that makes two of us.

**A/N: Happy New Year, everybody! **

**Well, Shepard's unresolved issues aren't fun…too bad nobody knows what they actually are yet. All in good time, though, and seeing what happened with Anoleis means she's probably not gonna make another mistake. **

**Next chapter, we hit the Mako, and probably head into Peak 15! The Mako section in Noveria was really long and boring as hell, if memory serves, so I don't plan on dwelling on it for too long. Especially with all the craziness going on in the facility.**

**500 reviews! (Does happy dance/Napoleon Dynamite dance). That's a pretty good way of starting 2011…thanks to everyone who's helped to bring it here by reviewing, and for everyone who reads, subscribes and favourites for all your encouragement. **

**Until next time!**


	24. Ian vs The Turret

Chapter 24

Poets of the Fall: Dreaming Wide Awake

"Are you sure you don't know what's going on with Shepard?" I mutter to Garrus, as we all head towards the garage, pass clutched firmly in Shepard's hands. Liara, Wrex and the commander herself are all out of earshot, so this seems the best time to ask before we all get in the Mako… "You sounded like you had a theory back in the office."

"Did I?" he replies vaguely, eyes shifting around a little. Garrus never was a particularly good liar…

"I've known you for a good few year now Garrus, credit me with some intelligence," I chuckle. "You said 'is it' to Shepard before she cut you off, so I reckon you know something. You aren't the only who was a detective, remember?"

He frowns, mandibles dropping slightly as he lowers his voice. "Why is it so important? Maybe it's none of your business." That's actually a rather good point…if Shepard's not telling us all about it right now, there's probably a reason for her to withhold it, considering she's normally pretty upfront about stuff. That said, if it's affecting her judgement…

"If it could help us out in a critical moment of not dying by helping her get over it, then yes, it's important!" I hiss. Garrus sighs.

"Look, I don't even know what it is," he whispers. "I've just a got a vague idea from talking to Shepard back on the Normandy, and I'm not going to break her confidence when she asked me to keep it private. If it's what I think it is, she's fine. Pissed off, probably a little sad as well, but fine." Hell, he's right. She made one little mistake, and I'm thinking like she's gone off the rails or some shit. Playing Mass Effect always gave me the idea she was somehow infallible, but she's only human too, after all. We all make mistakes.

I give Garrus a reassuring smile. "If it's private, don't worry about it. She confides in you, though?"

The turian gives me a funny look. "Yeah. Why?"

"You're just friends?"

"This again?" he groans, fringe tingeing blue. "Yes, friends. You're looking for things that aren't there."

"She doesn't seem to resent your company," I point out. "Looks for it, in fact."

Garrus grins a little, widening his mandibles. "I could say the same about you and Tali." Now it's my turn to blush when he says that…Tali and I aren't like that!

"We're just friends!" I protest, then realise I sound like a hypocrite. The look on Garrus's face suggests he's picked up on that as well. Fuck! "Shut up, mate. I'll keep my ideas to myself, you keep yours to yourself."

"Suits me," the turian laughs. Fair play, he turned that around rather well… "You two just seem like close friends, though. She barely talks to anyone else." Oh, there goes keeping our ideas to ourselves!

I shrug. "Maybe if you weren't a douche to her, she'd be more talkative. And if we're close, what does that make you and Shepard?" Garrus throws up his arms, looking exasperated when I say that. Score!

"No, that's not the point," he replies quickly. "She volunteered straight away to go down and see you after the Fedele mission, hanging around with you when we went out onto the Citadel, the amount of time you spend in engineering…"

"The amount of time you spend around Shepard on Systems Warfare and all that," I counter. "Her telling you to wear something warm in case you get cold here, how pissed you got when that necromorph grabbed her. What's your point?"

He smirks teasingly. "You're getting defensive."

"Screw you, mate," I chuckle, as we head up the stairs and past that one turian towards the garage.

"One thing, then," he says, switching his gaze so he's looking directly at me. "If you're just friends, then tell me you don't have some kind of romantic feelings for Tali, however slight. Look me in the eye and say it." Whoa, where did that come from?

I gawp at him slightly. "Seriously? You actually expect me to answer that?"

"It's a simple question," he shrugs, as Shepard starts talking to the garage guard a few metres away from us. "Answer the question. Yes or no." Jesus…I quickly think back to the amount of time I've spent with Tali, how she reacted after the armature thing. I can't deny wanting to go and talk to her often, her story about friendship for quarians on Pilgrimage…but romance?

"Then you answer the same question about Shepard," I say, neatly dodging the question and looking into the turian's eyes. "Yes or no."

"I asked first."

"I don't care."

I don't know what to say…and neither does Garrus, from the looks of things. Am I in love with her? I'm in between yes and no…saying yes just doesn't seem right at the moment, but I can't bring myself to say no either. Opposite me, Garrus seems to be having the same dilemma. Oh my God, what if-

Gunshots whiz past Garrus and I from inside the garage, startling us both as Shepard yells about geth in front of us. Damn, I wasn't thinking 'what if' geth troopers start busting at us! I sprint forward and slide behind a conveniently placed crate a few steps next to me, which Wrex has already taken refuge behind. I completely forgot about this part!

"Looks like we found out what's in the Benezia's cargo," Wrex mutters as he goes for his shotgun. "So much for passing safety regulations."

That makes me laugh as I reach for the pistols. Good old Wrex, keeping a dry sense of humour even when we're being shot at…actually, how far ahead is he in the kill competition? I'm on seventeen, Garrus has nineteen, Wrex has twenty-two. Only a few geth…would some sabotage go amiss?

I pop out of cover and Overload one of the geth rocket troops, knocking its shields down. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Wrex line up his shotgun at it…nope, no kill-stealing! I lightly kick him in the arm as he fires, jolting his aim slightly and making him miss. Haha! I feel so _mature. _I quickly pick it off with rapid handgun fire, leaning back into cover with a smile on my face.

Which quickly dissolves when I see the look Wrex is giving me.

"No glory in killing," he mutters. "Right. Is that why you stole that geth from me?"

I shrug. "We've got a competition going here. Sure, heavy risk knocking you like that, but the priiiiiize…" Wrex just gives me an odd look, then turns back to shooting. I can hardly expect a Jacob Taylor reference to work around here, can I?

Being shot at is bringing back the memories of this section, though…and if I remember correctly, that cannon on the Grizzly by the Mako should still be putting in work. You got less experience for doing it in game…which is why I'm grateful this is real life. Time to tear up. I like three kinds of weapon, handguns, sniper rifles, and the really big, overpowered, heavy guns. This definitely falls into the last category.

I lift a finger up to the headset in my ear, activating the radio. "I'm gonna go see if I can get that cannon on the Grizzly working," I say, judging the distance. I can take shelter by it while I hack it back into action…but I'm gonna be exposed slightly. "But I'll need time to hack it. Can I get some covering fire?"

"_I've got your back," _Garrus says quickly, and I see the turian switch from his sniper rifle to his pistol behind one of the crates across from me. Faster rate of fire's better for suppressing the enemy…

"_Of course," _Liara's voice chimes through into my ear. Shepard just gives me a nod of approval from across the room…three people should do it!

"I suppose I can help you out," Wrex grunts. "Not like you deserve it, but I'd rather you didn't die."

I give him a mocking thumbs up as I prepare to dash out. "Thanks, Wrex. It's really heartwarming that you don't want me killed.

"Don't mention it," the krogan chuckles. "Go on, get going!" If you say so…I leg it out of cover, dashing the ten or so metres to the cannon and opening my omni-tool as I go. Hopefully this isn't going to be too complicated, I've never really been big on puzzles…

The rest of the squad launch a full-scale offensive, pushing the geth into cover as I shelter myself from return fire as best I can, and launch the hack module. Ugh, that's not as easy as I'd like…but the tech here's fairly old. All I should need to do is bypass the initial security lock, which the module can just do for me…then manually route all the remaining power in the damn thing to the gun, since it's so busted up I can't just make it run normally.

A few bullets whizz over my shoulder, making me flinch as my fingers dance along the keys on the omni-tool. Avoid hitting any firewalls…yep, that should do it! I triumphantly press the enter key…and get a message saying 'administrator password required.' What? This isn't a bloody Windows computer! Hacking the password is gonna take another minute or so…

"_Ian! What's taking so long?" _Shepard asks, sounding concerned. _"Our weapons are going to overheat really soon, and Liara and I can't keep up the biotics for ever!" _Shit, sounds like I don't have a minute to spare. I frantically rack my brains for something, then just reach over and start typing. I seriously hope the people here are too lazy to change the default password…

I type in 'password', then wince slightly as the password screen disappears and nothing happens. Did I mess up? Better get back to cover with my tail between my legs…suddenly, there's a roaring noise from the Grizzly as it roars into life, and the turret controls light up ready for action. Wow, I can't believe that actually worked!

"I got it!" I say happily. Password? Really? "Everyone stay back, this is gonna be explosive!" With that, I line it up at one of the larger geth, and just let rip with it. The round shoots forward, exploding the geth into fragments and the shockwave knocking his cronies to the side. B-b-b-bullseye! Wait for it to cool down…which only takes a few seconds, thankfully. The second shot barely misses the Mako, but gets one shock trooper and one hopper down at the same time. Two birds with one stone! Though I should be a bit more careful with my aim…blowing up the Mako before we've even left isn't fun. At all.

That only leaves one trooper…which Liara quickly wipes out with biotics before the cannon reloads. Aw, I wanted to blow stuff up some more…though I'll take those four kills from that confrontation, thank you very much! I can actually see Garrus cursing to himself as his eye drifts to the eyepiece, presumably as he sees himself last. Haha, success! Who's back from the dead? From last to second just like that…even if there's only three people involved. It doesn't sound quite as good putting it like that, does it?

"What the hell is going on here?" a familiar voice shouts, causing us all to whirl around to see Maeko and some more security officers staring at us. Maeko, in particular, is looking at me atop the turret. Crap, this doesn't look too good, does it? I hop back down to the ground, shooting her an apologetic smile. It doesn't work. "Commander, what did you do?"

"_Me?_" Shepard replies incredulously, walking up to the Captain. "The geth attacked us, we defended ourselves! You picked a good time to show up!"

"Geth? From where?" Maeko replies scathingly, obviously not convinced. For God's sake woman, look across the room at all the geth corpses. They're over there!

I gesture over at the open boxes littering the garage. "Looks like Lady Benezia's cargo wasn't quite as safe as it was cracked up to be. Packed nice and neatly in there, and she must have smuggled them through customs."

"That can't be right!" the captain protests. "We did thorough scans, no power sources, no element zero masses…"

"Look, lady," I shrug. "There's a load of geth corpses over there. And we sure as hell didn't bring them with us."

Maeko shakes her head slowly. "If you're right, then there's going to be a lot more geth out there. And I mean, a lot."

"I need you to be more specific, Captain," Shepard says. "What does a lot mean?"

"A few dozen, at the very least," the Captain sighs. "You can pack machines very tightly, and Benezia wasn't exactly packing light…I need to report to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose geth there may be an investor panic."

Wrex suddenly takes a step forward, getting all up in her grill. "That's it? You're supposed to be security, but you go rushing off to make a report rather than getting rid of the problem. Leave the real warriors to deal with it. This planet makes me sick."

"I have my duties," Maeko replies stiffly. Wrex just grunts at steps back, waving her away dismissively with a hand. I'm not too impressed with her either…she could at least offer some kind of help, right? Instead, the captain just walks briskly away, the rest of her team following her. Then again, faced with the choice of fighting geth in the freezing cold or writing up a report in the warm, it's no surprise what they chose, I guess. Nobody around here seems to have much backbone…except Qui'in and Parasini. I wonder if they've put him in as Administrator yet…I hope so. This place needs someone like him.

"I should probably reprimand you for being rude," Shepard chuckles, looking over at Wrex once the security team's left, "but I was thinking exactly the same thing myself."

Wrex shrugs. "Even if she's not going to do anything about it, she ought to know she's a coward."

"Not everyone's born brave," Shepard muses. "The galaxy's probably a better place for not everyone going out in an armoured tank to kill some geth."

"Are you born with it?" I ask, getting a look off the rest of the squad. "The only thing you need to be brave is to believe yourself to be brave, right?"

Liara actually looks fairly interested by that. "That is an interesting question," she says, looking thoughtful. "I was not expecting a philosophical discussion, but now that we mention it- "

"We're heroes, they're not," Shepard says simply, smiling and gesturing towards the Mako. "End of story. Now let's get moving, if we're quite done chatting. Garrus, you take the gun." Aw, I kind of enjoyed taking the turret on Therum…and shooting the cannon back in the fight has got me in the taste for more. Still, can't have everything, right? I take a quick glance inside, relieved to see it's a five seater Mako.

"Doesn't look like we're sharing today, Wrex," I smile at the krogan, taking my seat happily. Ah, the joys of relative comfort…though I probably won't be thinking that when we're flipping around in the snow. Just hopefully not off a cliff.

The krogan gives me a rare grin as he settles in himself. "Last time that happened, you were the one who got injured, not me. I don't particularly care, to be honest. If you want to sit here again, feel free. It's kind of funny launching you like that."

"Touché," I mutter, as Shepard fires up the engine and Garrus settles into the gunner's seat. Twenty minutes of discomfort, here we go!

#########

"Anyone want to take a guess at what we're going to find up at Peak 15?" I ask, as we finally hit a straight where there aren't geth shooting at us. We got jumped by some armatures pretty much just as we left the garage, but it's become routine now, so Garrus blew them away while Shepard ran them over. Though at least it's not as crazy as the ride on Feros was, since now we've got a battle plan slightly more sophisticated than 'panic and drive'. I'd hardly call this relaxing…but hey, we've not been knocked off a cliff, done a barrel roll, or shot up particularly bad. That's good in my books.

"Whatever it is, I don't expect it to be friendly, given the turn this mission has taken," Liara suggests. "Why, what were you thinking?"

"What I'm thinking of and what I'm expecting are completely different," I smile. "I'm thinking that there's going to be hot food, a nice friendly welcome, some tame varren…but I'm expecting some bad stuff. Still, misguided optimism doesn't hurt."

Liara laughs, settling back in her seat as Wrex rolls his eyes next to her. "It'll probably just be geth," the krogan grunts. "It always is. There's not much joy in killing synthetic opponents, they're too soulless." Oh crap, Wrex is gonna be in for _huge _surprise once we actually get in there…might not be a lot of joy in killing geth, but I reckon he'll take more than just professional pride in getting rid of the rachni waiting for us. The evil ones, anyway.

I hope Shepard doesn't kill them. I mean, normally that wouldn't be a concern for me, and while she's way calmer than before people still make decisions they regret when they're pissed off. Though killing them off does give her the opportunity to use the 'depends on the species, turian' line on that councillor when he talks to her about taking pleasure in genocide…still, I don't really think it's worth the destruction of an entire race. Especially rachni. They look awesome…at least when they're not trying to kill you. Aliens are great. Except hanar. Grrr. Now thinking of aliens is drawing my thoughts back to what Garrus asked about Tali, and I still don't have an answer…

"Are you still with us, Ian?" Liara chuckles, waving her hand in front of my face and causing me to snap out of my daze.

"You looked like you were sand-blasted," Wrex adds, as I glance out the windscreen. This particular section of cavern looks familiar, for some reason…I think we're getting close. Still, Wrex implying I look like I'm on red-sand?

I raise an eyebrow and glance over at the krogan. "You would know that, how?" I ask.

"You don't always mix with the nicest people in mercenary work, Ian," he replies. "I've seen my fair share of users, and I'm not talking about people who try it once or twice. Never tried it myself, and don't plan on it. I've seen what it does to people."

"My experience with it hasn't been great," I say. Wrex and Liara both look at me, surprised. That probably didn't sound good… "I don't mean I've tried it!" I quickly add. "Garrus and I did an investigation into this mental guy trying to poison the red sand supply and get rid of the junkies…Ricardo Fernandez, I think? Killing the vast numbers of people who just try it and quit was acceptable losses for him, apparently."

Liara leans forward in her seat slightly, seemingly intrigued. Glad someone finds C-Sec life interesting…if I'd written a book about my time there, that would have been crap. Why would anyone even read it? "How was it a bad experience? Did you not stop him?"

"Yeah, we got him. He just shot me before we finished him, and I died for a minute or so, that's all," I reply dryly.

"You died?" the asari gasps. Even the krogan looks surprised.

"Yeah, for like two minutes. It happens a lot, apparently, they can still revive you. Dying for two years and coming back, that's something different," I say, then feel a little sombre thinking ahead. After we're all done with Saren…she's gonna go. I mean, I know she's coming back, but still. It sucks, to say the least.

Shepard looks around slightly, which worries me slightly. We're driving on an icy cliff, with geth potentially appearing at any moments…eyes on the damn road! "So, was there some kind of white light when you were dead?" I think back to it…that nightmare with Rebecca where she stabbed me, then the dream with Harbinger in trying to kill me. I'm surprised that shit didn't scar me for life.

"Not exactly," I say. "Let's leave it at that."

"Come on," Wrex scoffs. "Two minutes, fine, but if someone came back from the dead after two years, I'd…what's the human idiom?"

"Eat your hat?" I suggest. Please, say it…

The krogan nods. "That's it. If that happened, I'd eat my hat." Must make a mental note of that…because that's gonna bite Wrex in the ass in the future! "I didn't release dying for two minutes was common, though. Never heard of it happening before, but then again I don't know anyone who's stupid enough to get themselves shot, or stupid enough not to kill outright with their shot."

"Guess I'm lucky you weren't the one shooting at me," I reply sardonically. "Besides, I was taking a bullet for Garrus."

"That explains it," Wrex chuckles. "The turian was the one stupid enough to get shot, not you."

Garrus leans his head down from the gun slightly, as there's a lull in combat. "I can hear every word you're saying, you know," he points out. We all pretend to ignore him, and he returns to shooting with an exasperated sigh.

"You saved his life?" Liara asks. "That's heroic."

"He's got me out of a fix more than once," I reply, laughing it off. "I'm no hero." I'm tempted to put on a Solid Snake voice when I say that, but don't bother. It'll just be lost on them. "Just happen to be in the right place at the right time consistently, that's all. Getting shot wasn't even that bad after the whole dying thing, I got this sweet scar from it. Like the one on your face, Wrex, except it's on my chest," I add, pointing at the krogan.

"Can we see?" Liara asks. Wow, that was kind of out of the left field…

"Erm…maybe some other time." She almost looks disappointed. "This conversation is taking a turn for the macabre, with scars, red sand, people being shot…I was trying to be positive before we run into whatever hell awaits us in there?"

Shepard swivels around in her chair, bringing the Mako to a halt and flashing a grin at us. "Too late for that now. Welcome to the first circle." We're here already? Guess time flies when you're having fun talking…and we didn't even drive it off a cliff and have to make a daring escape! That's probably something for the return journey. "We've got to walk in, but it's beyond freezing out there, so everyone move double time. When I open the doors, everyone go, alright?" We all nod, Garrus significantly less enthusiastic than the rest of us as he clambers down from the turret. "Okay. Go!"

The commander stabs down on the button, and the cold air rushes in, thermal shock slowing me slightly as I head out and dash to the relative safety of the building. Sure, there's geth and rachni in here…but I can't kill the cold. It physically hurts to draw breath out here, but it only takes a few seconds for us all to tumble in, and the door to slide firmly shut behind us. Ah, it's toasty in here…

"Good thing Saren pays his heating bills," I mutter, as we advance forward. "Though this place could look a little nicer, even for a lab. Why do we go to such crap places. Feros was a mess, even if that wasn't their fault…there was _way _too much lava on Therum, and now it's freezing. Plus the décor sucks."

"I'm sure you'll live, Ian," Shepard chuckles. "I hope Benezia isn't too far in here." Ooh, someone's gonna be disappointed.

"Come on Shepard," I chuckle, as we advance forward. "We're looking for our main lead, in a facility our enemy bought. We've both played enough video games to know it's never that easy."

Shepard shrugs. "This isn't a video game, though. I can be optimistic."

"Yeah, Ian," Garrus adds. "This isn't a game."

Wrex nods next to him. "Pull it together, Ian."

Irony. That's all I'm saying. I mean, this is real now…but still, I'm finding it ironic. Too bad none of them can appreciate that. The door ahead of us opens up into a wide, open room, crates scattered everywhere…there's definitely not gonna be a fight here. Uh-uh. No way.

There's the synthetic noise of geth as a bullet flies past Wrex's head, along with the shout of a krogan from the walkway on the left. OH, what a surprise! Though at this distance, I might mix it up a bit…I reach over my shoulder and grab the sniper rifle, hanging back and hitting cover while the rest of the squad make a rush forward to closer positions. One geth trooper pokes his head out from the opposite end of the room, firing at Garrus and Liara as they make a run for cover. Sight says it's a sixty metre shot, which isn't too bad…

Bam! Straight in the eye! The geth tumbles back, flashlight head extinguished, as I lean back into cover and pull back the bolt on the rifle for another shot. One down, only one geth juggernaut and repair drone to go…I lean out, and eye two more krogan advancing from the end of the room. Oh, bugger! Shepard obviously sees them to, grabbing hold of the drone with biotics and hurling it at one krogan, causing it to explode and impact and sending the krogan hurtling to the floor. I line up the sights, should be an easy finisher…

A shotgun blast and a triumphant yell beat me to it though, as Wrex blows the majority of the krogan's lower half off. Damn, he retains the lead…I place my shot in the other soldier's head, taking down the shields but not making any lasting damage. I curse quietly and ready another shot, just as Liara flares up blue and lifts her arm rapidly into the air, making the krogan shoot up, bounce off the roof with a solid crack, and drop lifeless to the floor. Yep, that probably _did _do permanent damage…she rocket uppercutted him with biotics! Even Todd Ingram would be jealous of that! Vegan powers have nothing on biotics, it would seem…

That leaves the one krogan up on the walkway, who's raining shots down on the rest of the squad from his higher position as they fire back. Annoyingly, this krogan seems smarter than the average one, as he's positioned him just out of the way of my line of fire…wait, idea! There's two crates near to me, one low enough for me to jump onto, letting me climb up to the other one and then jump onto the walkway. The amount of shots the rest of the squad are getting back, it's a safe bet its shields'll be done by the time I get there. In theory.

True enough, there's a roar of frustration from the krogan, and I see hints of blue around the exposed part of his armour failing. Time to go! I grab my left pistol and dash forward. Right, don't cock this up, don't cock this up…easy jump up onto the first crate, as I plant my hands on the one next to me and heave myself up. That gives me a two metre run up to jump the fairly small gap…but as I clamber up, the krogan's eyes lock with mine, as he realises what's happening. Fuck. He lifts the shotgun, evil look in his eyes…and it clicks as he pulls the trigger.

"You need to cool off, pal," I mutter at him. The krogan just roars at me, as I start to run forward and place a pistol shot between his eyes, which amazingly seems to have no effect. Why are krogan so damn invincible! That shotgun is gonna cool down eventually…and he knows it, due to the smile forming on his face as he looks at the display, and he brings it up a second time.

Oh no! No, no, no! I leap, reaching for the knife on my shoulder as I do. Time literally seems to slow as I fly through the air, watching the krogan lift the gun, triumphant look on his face. He'll be able to blow me out of the air before I can reach him with the knife, and the pistol's not doing much…only one thing I can do. And I'd better not cock it up.

I twist the knife in my grip slightly and hurl it at him, just as the shotgun goes off. Time suddenly rushes back to the normal, and I slam into the deck on the walkway, rolling onto my back and looking up at the shotgun wielding krogan…who falls down slowly, knife protruding from his eye, same confident look on his lifeless face. Thank God that worked…no more battle stunts, I swear!

I can see the lines on the roof where the shotgun blast just missed me, presumably from him flinching when he took a knife in his freakin' eye.

Shepard and the rest of the squad come dashing up the stairs as I pull the knife out with a horrible squelching noise, and kick the krogan in the side of the head for being a jerk. He deserved every inch of that knife.

"Nice," Shepard comments dryly. "Throwing knife to the eye. You never cease to surprise me. That death wish of yours is coming in rather useful."

"It's not a death wish!" I protest, as Garrus shakes his head, smiling slightly as we move towards the next room. "All these plans seem like perfectly good ideas before I'm doing them!"

"_Riiight," _the turian says sarcastically. "The kill competition is just a bit of fun, you know. It's not good if you actually get killed."

I shrug. "You're just saying that because you're losing." Garrus makes a growling sound when I say that, grinning good-naturedly, but doesn't take it any further. Shepard opens the door in front of us…and looked bemused at the two turrets hanging around there, facing away from us.

"What moron installed these turrets facing backwards?" Wrex grunts. "Then again, Saren's facility, turian design…" I'm struggling not to laugh a little, but I don't want to offend Garrus.

"I'm guessing they want to keep their employees in as much as they want to keep others out," Garrus suggests, sounding a little irritated at Wrex's comment. Which if fair enough…we take a sharp left, straight into an elevator. Good, at least this should give me time to get my breath back. Everyone else seems to be taking that opportunity too, which leaves us in silence as we ascend. I start humming the song Joseph Gordon Levitt dances to in (500) Days of Summer in that one sequence…that bit made the damn film, especially after seeing him in Inception. But I shut up when Wrex glares at me. Killjoy.

The elevator doors open, and we all walk out, though everyone's on guard after the scale of the attack on the floor below. I mean, krogan…they're too damn big to be playing with us. And if the thing I think is coming up happens, we're going to have a lot worse than krogan to deal with. Shepard opens the door into the next room…and a hail of bullets come through, quite a few hitting me in the chest and sending me diving for cover. Shit! Thank God for shields…though I need to stop standing in the middle of doors when they open, considering Peak 15 isn't exactly brilliant for health and safety.

Garrus and Wrex go in all guns blazing, making me wince slightly. That's whatever lead I had being reduced, I imagine…so the second the shields recharge, I slide into a better position and start tearing up at one geth with both pistols that Shepard's already weakened with gunfire. It goes down faster than Betamax, letting me turn my gun on another geth…which Garrus shoots in the face with a sniper rifle at point blank range. I cast my eyes around the room…but all targets are down, it seems. Really? I'm out of battle for like ten seconds and they kill _everything? _We're either really damn good, or the geth suck. Or both.

A sudden noise from around causes everyone to jump back to an alert status, weapons up and roving as we all gather back together and form a circle. Damn, looks like that easy battle was just to create a false sense of security…I know what's coming now.

"What was that?" Liara asks, backing up towards me slightly.

"Debris, don't have a panic attack," Wrex mutters. "I'm sure Ian'll protect you." I'm about to make some witty comment back…when I catch sight of something in the window. Something with tentacle/feeler things. Something that doesn't look friendly, in short.

"That's some odd looking debris, Wrex," I say, pointing up to it. Wrex glances up…then does a double take when he realises what he's looking at, and his eyes narrow furiously.

"This just got a lot more interesting," Wrex snarls, cocking his shotgun.

Well, I'm glad somebody's excited.

**A/N: The (500) Days of Summer dancing bit is really awesome: search for it on YouTube with '500 days of summer you make my dreams'. Especially if you like Inception.**

**So, the rachni make their debut. Oh dear. More acid, more violence, more hunting down indoctrinated asari, more hot labs…more stuff in general. Though we've got an assassin to deal with too, plus all the other stuff in the slightly more civilised area of Peak 15. It's all very hectic.**

**Speaking of hectic…I'm writing the next chapter of Mass Effect: Recreation, so you might have to wait a little bit longer than usual for the next chapter of this. But, if you're following that, you'll get a chapter to read in that fic. So it's a win/win either way for you people!**

**Oh yeah, I don't know if we've got any Star Wars/KotOR fans…my man CPunchMaster in the reviewing section is writing a SI in that fandom, and it's bloody good, if you'll pardon my French. I know like nothing about Star Wars, but for those of you who do go check it out. Also read True Identity. Because I told you to.**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, subscribing, favouriting, and I'll see you next chapter!**


	25. Ian vs The Rachni

Chapter 25

Celldweller: Narrow Escape

**A/N: And we're back! Recreation chapter up and out the way, time to take care of some rachni and all the other horrors in Peak 15 (the core puzzle being the worst of them.) However, since Peak 15 is so damn big and convoluted, and there's such a thing as too many fight scenes, I'm going to miss out actually turning on the landlines and stuff. Because it's repetitive as hell and doesn't add anything to the plot.**

**Let's get to it!**

The rachni up by the window screeches at us yet again, as two more appear from ventilation shafts and other small crannies around us and join in the cry. The sound they emit actually sends chills up my spine, and not the good kind. Shit, this is almost as scary as the necromorphs…if not more. I'm trying to keep my face and posture strong, not give them any ground, but I haven't felt this afraid for a while. The circular mouth on the damn things, surrounded with a row of ridiculously sharp teeth, slimy looking skin, tentacles waving menacingly, stench coming off them filling the air…it suddenly hits home, really damn hard, that I'm seriously out of my depth. Noveria's been fine so far, knowing what's going on with Anoleis and Qui'in, but playing a video game can't prepare anyone for this stuff. From here on, it's just pure survival instinct.

"They're moving to surround us," Wrex mutters quietly, as the rachni slowly advance. "Don't let them. I've heard about these things, and trust me, you don't want that to happen." I'll defer to the expert there… "We all need to rush the one closest to us, by the ramp."

"Alright," Shepard nods, obviously accepting Wrex knows better in this situation. Probably a good move on her part. "When?"

"Now!" Wrex yells, and just like that charges forward with his shotgun up, blasting our combined target in the face. Just like that, the battle begins. I start firing at us, trying to keep an even distance between it and the rachni behind us, but the one we're all shooting at quickly jukes to the left and spits acid at Garrus's face, who barely manages to duck out of the way in time. Shit, these things are quick! I swivel around to see the other bounding towards us…or more specifically, me, since I've managed to get myself at the back of the group. No no no!

Both of the…pods, I guess, on the end of the tentacles open, and both fire acid at me simultaneously. I lean right to dodge one…and the other glances my armour on the left shoulder, instantly fizzing through and lightly burning my shoulder. Ah, fuck! My armour seems thick enough for only a small amount to get through, but that was only a glancing hit! What the hell's going to happen if I take a full shot to the chest?

Actually, I really don't want to find out. I blitz the rachni with pistol fire, making it screech in pain as the rounds tear through its flesh…but the tentacles still come up for more shots even as I wound it. I tense my legs to dive roll, but I can see the pods tracking my movements…shit, that might not work! I'm about to go through with it anyway, when a small metallic disc flies past me and sticks itself onto the rachni.

"Ian!" I hear Liara yell. "Get out of there, quick!" I can see the acid brimming on the pods, some actually dripping onto the floor and hissing slightly…and presumably Liara sees it as well, as I hear the small click of the grenade being armed. She really pushed it when I'm this close?

I finally dive, putting my arms out to roll away from the explosion…which proves rather pointless, as the grenade blows while I'm in mid-air and knocks me straight into a wall, knocking all the air out of my lungs and leaving me clutching at my chest, struggling to get back to my feet. Damn that hurts…shit, where's the rest of the squad? My ears are ringing badly from the explosion, and I can hear faint shouts of panic and the din of battle around me as I stagger back to my feet, vision blurred slightly. Damn, this fight's gone to hell for me way too quick…I reach for my pistols, only feeling air as I touch the holsters. They must have got knocked away in the explos-

A sudden whip to the face sends me straight to the floor, clutching the side of my face in agony and giving me a massive headrush as I try to focus. When I do, I immediately wish I hadn't. Standing over me, the rachni from the window, the tentacle it hit me with still waving slightly as the pods open. How the fuck did it get down here? I don't remember picking up a 1-up anywhere on this adventure…so I can't exactly pull a Scott Pilgrim and come back from the dead. Staring death in the face, and all I can think about is Scott Pilgrim…that grenade really fucked my mind. So…so alone…didn't want it to go like this…

There's a roar from next to me, penetrating through the fog in my mind and dullness in my ears...and Urdnot Wrex suddenly appears in front of me, grabbing the two pods as they fill with acid. What is he doing? Except saving my life…the krogan twists the pods towards the rachni's eyes, ignoring the thing scratching at his chest and face, and I see his hands clench hard. The acid streams straight out and into the rachni, making it screech in pain and filling the air with a horrible smell as the eyes burn away and it sinks to the floor. Three down, that's all of them…I shake my head quickly, trying to come around again.

"Wrex…" I finally manage to say, albeit shakily. "I thought I was alone, and then you come out nowhere. I thought I was dead…"

"You're not dead," he grunts, still looking at the dead rachni, limbs shaking slightly. "You're just in some idiotic daze." Garrus comes over next to me and offers a talon, which I gratefully take and heave myself back up to my feet. Damn, those things got me _good. _We're suddenly a bit out of our league, I reckon. I've got an acid burn on my shoulder, though the medi-gel's taking care of that, plus the whipping I took across the face is stinging like hell…Garrus's left leg seems to have taken some acid, Shepard has a scratch across her face, and Liara's armour has a fair few gouges on it.

"They got lucky, that's all," I mutter as I rise, glancing at the krogan. Wrex…damn, he's bleeding pretty bad from where that rachni cut him on the arm! "You alright, mate?" I ask, senses slowly returning, as I reach over and tap him on the shoulder. "I've got some medi-gel if you-"

"No, I'm not alright!" Wrex yells, shoving my arm away and knocking me back a few paces. Jesus, what the fuck's gotten into him? He's still standing over the rachni, still shaking… "Do you realise what this means? The one thing my people fought for, to push the rachni back, the one thing we managed before those bastards gave us the genophage, and now they're here!" With that, he picks up the rachni corpse, and hurls it across the room. I mean, all the way. Thirty or so metres. Bloody hell…he's right. This has got to be a blow for him, to say the least…

"Look, Wrex, a few rachni isn't the species repopulating," I say quickly, trying to calm him down. Last thing we need is an angry krogan. "Saren must have been experimenting with them in the lab, and they got loose. Which is probably why Benezia's here."

"How do you know this isn't repopulation?" the krogan fumed unabated, throwing his arms out and taking a step towards me, towering above me. Shit, that's scary…but I got to hold my ground, again. He's no worse than a rachni. "Saren might already have an army of these things ready to deploy!"

"If he did, we'd have heard about it by now!" I snap back. "These things are lethal, Wrex, he wouldn't wait to use them! If he really is trying to breed an army, he obviously hasn't managed it yet."

Shepard stands next to me, nodding her head. Having the rachni appear like that has probably pushed whatever's bothering her low on her list of priorities, which suits me fine… "Ian's right. We want to stop this, we need to find out what's going on around here and shut it down. Right now, all we can do is keep pushing forward."

"This had better turn out good," Wrex spits, still sounding angry. And for good reason. "But you've got a point. Hopefully it'll just be contained to these labs."

It's nice being in the position of knowing he's got that right...to bad I can actually tell him, or anyone else, about it. Plus I can't remember where the damn things actually come from around here, since they just burst through the floor and that on a regular, terrifying basis…my heart's racing, and we're not even in combat. This is a whole different level to geth and other soldiers. "Let's keep going, then," Liara says, sounding fairly shaken as she shifts uncomfortably from side to side. "Erm…sorry about blowing you up, Ian."

"Don't mention it," I groan as we all advance cautiously forwards, everyone with weapon up and primed. I stretch my shoulders out, trying to work out the pain in them from the little front flip I accidentally managed. Gonna have some marks in the morning…provided we make it to see the dawn. God, that's a harrowing thought. "Better that than some acid to the face. The girls like me as I am."

"I'm sure they do," the asari chuckles, as we advance up into the higher level of the room, with all the separate computer rooms on the right hand side. Damn, that sounds _way _too flirtatious thinking it back over…I hope she doesn't take it like that. Though rachni are a bit more of a concern for me, considering they took me to the cleaners in that fight. Tactics are a must.

I tap Shepard on the shoulder, making the Commander turn around, normal enigmatic smile dulled slightly. Hell, the whole crew looks a bit morose…we weren't expecting this kind of resistance. Well, I was, but I didn't think it would be this bad! "We got any kind of tactics for these things? I haven't been decked that bad since sparring with Ash."

"We can't get split up," Shepard says. "If we all focus our fire on one at a time, they go down really quick, but they're quick as hell. As a unit, we'll be fine, one on one, that's an issue. Plus this acid goes straight through shields…so we're going to need a lot of medi-gel." She glances through one of the windows next to us, then her eyes light up slightly. "Speaking of which! That looks like some medical supplies in there." With that, she presses the door panel and strides in, the rest of the squad following her. Can't complaing about medi-gel…wait, those floor vents on the room's wall look incredibly suspicious. My horror game senses are tingling…oh fuck.

"Guys," I say, quietly but firmly. "This place is setting of alarm bells for me. Grab those supplies and get out of here, now."

Garrus turns to face me, slightly amused look on his face. "I know you're naturally paranoid, Ian, but come on, we cleaned out this ar-" I jump about a foot in the air, as do the rest of the squad, as the vent closest to the door suddenly explodes outwards, narrowly missing Liara's head, and yet another one of the rachni pops out. Killitkillitkillit!

We all open fire at once, no-one particularly bothering with pinpoint accuracy and instead focusing on killing the alien in front of us, as quickly as possible. Fortunately, this one goes down under out hail of shots before anyone gets some more acid…but God, that made my damn chest hurt! Scared the hell out of me! "Cleaned out the area?" I ask sarcastically, looking over at Garrus. "Paranoia saves lives." That should totally be my slogan.

"New policy," Shepard gasps, still sounding like she's recovering from the shock of that rachni's appearance. "Vents are bad, okay? We stick to the path, and we don't go off it unless absolutely necessary. Everyone good with that?" We all nod quickly and firmly. If a rachni doesn't get me up here, a heart attack might…and everyone on the squad has some kind of minor injury.

I mean, we've got out of some bad situations before…but what if our luck's finally out? I don't think it is, but the thought's still nagging away at me. From the looks on the squad's faces, I might not be the only one thinking that. Screw trying to killsteal and score points now, this is about survival. Thankfully, I don't think there any more confrontations until we get up the elevators ahead of us…which means I can at least take a small breather. Considering we're all on edge, weapons readied…I don't think starting a conversation is the best idea. Especially if my memory isn't as good as I hope it is. Just keep moving forward, one thing at a time.

And for the love of God, don't freak out.

#######

Abject silence all the way up in the elevator, just as I was expecting, as the elevator shaft whips past as we ascend. Garrus is leaning against the wall, eyes closed slightly, Liara alert but looking worried, and Wrex just looking _mad. _In the centre of it all, Shepard, standing strong and ready. She's really the rock that keeps this whole thing together, isn't she? Probably scared witless underneath it all like the rest of us, but she knows she can't show it. Just face it down with a scowl, possible one-liner, and a lot of bullets. I'd rather not show my slight fear about this whole thing, but my hands are shaking inadvertently, and not through anger like Wrex. Still, could always be worse. Could be zombies. Crap, better I don't tempt fate…

The elevator doors finally open…oh, and joy of joys, more rachni! Fortunately, they're all at the end of the rather long corridor…sniper time! I reach over my shoulder for the rifle, Garrus doing the same as both Liara and Shepard flare up blue, Wrex switching out the shotgun for assault rifle with a grunt. Showtime.

It's Liara, surprisingly, who start the fight off, unleashing a singularity at the two rachni at the end of the hallway. Actually, that ain't bad thinking, because…yep, both of them get caught in it! Total sitting ducks, and I see Garrus smile a little as he lines up his shot. I join him. Both of us fire at the same time, both our rounds going through whatever the rachni have for heads and leaving them limply swirling around the singularity.

I drop the scope down, pulling the bolt back firmly and swinging the rifle back onto my back in one smooth movement, I'm so used to doing it now. Didn't even have to talk to Garrus, and we both got different targets…they say there's a connection made between people who fight together for a long time, and I guess that must be it. Or I'm totally exaggerating stuff, as per usual. Still, it's a nice thought.

"They're not really much competition at long range, are they?" Garrus observes as we all file out of the elevator. God, I remember this part…reactivating the core, among other ridiculously drawn out stuff. Plus, that puzzle was _way _too hard. I got it, but I've got no idea how I managed it bar mashing buttons. Sophisticated tech skills, that. "We can snipe them out easily."

"They don't tend to leave themselves that open, do they?" I ask rhetorically as we all walk towards the door leading into the core. "I mean, they were coming out of the vents back down there, rushing us first chance they got. Long range opportunities like that are gonna be a rarity, I reckon. They're not stupid."

Shepard grinds to a halt as we enter the core room, staring at the massive core in front of us. "This looks like it'll get the power going again," she says cheerily, smiling a little as she walks around and locates the small lift down. "I'll go and see if I can't sort this out." We'll see how long it takes for that smile to be wiped off her face…Wrex comes over and leans against the walls next to me, expression looking a bit calmer and muscles no longer tensed in anger. That's always a good sign!

"Wrex, it'll just be in Peak 15, you know," I say calmly, getting a glance from the krogan as he shifts his body to look at me. Garrus and Liara also shuffle over a bit, everyone kind of drawn into the conversation. Beats standing around in silence in a place this creepy. "We'd have at least seen some on the way up in the Mako if they'd gotten loose. Not that they'd even be able to survive the climate around here."

"I know," he grunts. "I was thinking-"

"That makes a change," Garrus mutters next to me, making me chuckle slightly then stop when I see the look Wrex gives him. Though to be fair, Wrex has been getting Garrus all day every day…nice to see the turian pull one back.

"_I was thinking," _he continues impatiently, "about what you and Shepard says, and it makes sense. My people were supposed to have driven these things all the way back to whatever hellhole they come from, well before my time, so it's not good to see them around here. Especially since the Rachni Wars ended up leading to the genophage." Wrex glares accusingly at Garrus.

The turian shakes his head, frowning. "I don't represent turians as a species, Wrex. It wasn't my decision to use the genophage."

"You'd have done it if it was," Wrex scowls. "You all would have."

Garrus mandibles flare outwards, a sign he's getting pissed off. "If all krogan are like you, maybe I wo-"

Jesus… "Come on, people, relax!" I say. "You two were actually getting along back in Hanshan!"

"He has a point," Liara adds. "All of this is making everyone stressed, and volatile. I suggest we take a few seconds to just calm down." It sounds patronising…but that's actually not a bad idea. I take a few seconds to settle my nerves, Garrus and Wrex surprisingly doing the same next to me.

"Sorry, Wrex, I didn't mean that," Garrus finally sighs. Hallelujah! "This place is getting to me a bit."

"Makes two of us," Wrex smiles, grimly. "You're not so bad, turian. Naïve like the rest of your kind, and there's no love lost between me and turians after you stabbed us in the back like you did after the Rachni Wars, but you didn't exactly cause the genophage. Besides, you're not the average turian, as far as I can tell." Did Wrex just kind of apologise to Garrus? Wow, that makes a change from normal…even in the games the two barely ever talked. We'll make a team out of them yet. "There. Are we done with the hugging and learning?"

I can't help grinning at the krogan. Still got the dry wit, even when a species that his people were supposed to have destroyed come back again. Hell, that'd piss me off. "Yeah, that should do it," I chuckle. "Why does it have to be vicious, clawed, acid spitting aliens coming for us, though? Why can't we fight a cute, fluffy race, who's most devastating tactic is some kind of attack hug."

"Where's the fun in that?" Wrex asks.

"You're finding this fun?" I gawp. Actually, that's not that surprising considering the background with rachni and krogan… "Then again, I suppose rachni aren't much of a match for you. Maybe we should just let you loose at them and just stand back, it'll save me getting messed up like last time."

"You're a liability," Wrex laughs derisively. "I turn around, you're on the floor about to get some acid in your face." Why is he laughing? How's that even funny?

"The thing bitch-slapped me! It was being cheap! Being blown up probably didn't help either," I protest, glancing over at Liara.

"I said it was an accident!" she gasps.

"You accidentally blew someone up? That's a new one," Garrus mutters, getting a round of laughter from the group. Ah, this is more like it! The rachni might be as scary as hell…but hey, at least we've got humour.

Liara shakes her head, grinning. "It was that or Ian got acid in his face. Apparently that's not good for the complexion, human and otherwi-"

"Damn it!" comes a muffled yell down below from Shepard, prompting us all to look down into the core, her glaring back up at us from below.

"How's it going down there?" I shout down. I think I can already guess the answer…

The commander shakes her head. "Terrible! You need a PhD to operate this thing, it's complex as all hell."

"Well, it's always a good idea to RTFM," I suggest, chuckling slightly as I think back to Kaidan's story.

"What?"

"Read the fucking manual. Kaidan's thing, not mine," I explain. "You see one around?"

Shepard throws her arms out sarcastically. "I don't know, Ian, I seem to have missed the bookcase in here. _What do you want from me?" _she yells at the machine, punching the console hard. I can hear the rest of the squad trying to suppress laughter behind me, and I'm struggling not to burst out laughing as well…until, out of nowhere, the machine suddenly whirrs into life and Shepard begins to ascend towards us, initial look of confusion replaced with one of triumph.

"Punching the machine," Garrus smiles, shaking his head. "That works way, way more often than it should. Ian and are both handy with tech, but the amount of times that done more than we ever could is ridiculous."

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it first," Shepard grins, stepping out in front of us.

"Think of it? Are you saying that was pre-mediated, Shepard? Really?" Garrus chuckles. "You weren't just angry?"

"Of course I wasn't," she replies. "I'd never act that rashly. Had it in mind all along." Suddenly, some orange, weird looking holographic woman appears in front of Shepard. Ah, Mira. Prepare to be bored, Shepard…even if it's a necessary evil.

The machine just hangs awkwardly for a second, not saying anything…then suddenly addresses Shepard. She has a way of drawing attention, doesn't she? Even from VIs! "It looks like you're trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?" Holy shit, it's the paperclip from Microsoft Word…but now even more annoying, because it's got a voice.

"Can't say I'd mind," Shepard smiles. "Who are you?"

Not really going to gain much by listening in on this…instead I take a few steps to the side, keeping my line of sight on the door. When we've got a vicious race of alien beings baying for our blood, at least one person should probably watch the door.

#########

Unsurprisingly, we didn't get any vicious aliens trying to kill us while I was on watch, which was a relief yet somewhat anti-climatic. Not that I'm complaining that there wasn't something trying to kill us all. Well, not until we headed out to turn on the various things Mira informed us were necessary, after she 'bored us all to tears', to quote Wrex. Landlines, and gunning through all the rachni and such to get them on…check. Fortunately, we actually stuck together this time, fought organised. I was still pretty scared of getting acid in my back, or one sneaking up on me from behind, but I'm here on the tram in one piece. A slightly scratched and burned piece, mind, but still alive. There's a slight smell of burned flesh in the tram as we travel along, unfortunately, but short of sticking air fresheners on ourselves there's not much we can do about it.

The reactor was easy, in comparison. I was almost happy to see the geth, gunning our way through them just like old times…at least, until some more rachni turned up. Fortunately, Shepard used the Mira terminal to open the vents and burn them to a crisp, much to Wrex's delight. Ain't no mission like a switch pressing mission. Repair duties finally done, here we are, speeding along in the tram towards the survivors. God, I'm not looking forward to this…if I remember rightly, these guys will shoot at us for doing just about anything. If we go down to the hot labs before killing Benezia, they open fire. If we go to face Benezia through the wrong door, they open fire. If they don't like the colour of our armour, they open fire.

Okay, maybe the last one is a slight exaggeration. But still, they are volatile. To say the least.

"I'm hoping there's survivors around here," Shepard sighs, as the tram finally begins to slow down. "It's creepy as hell in this place, so some company wouldn't go amiss."

"It will if they start shooting at us…" I mumble, then look up and address Shepard properly. Don't think she heard that. "We're getting close to the real labs now, so if we're going to find anyone, it'll be here. Though if they think Benezia's on there side, we might be in for a bit of bother. Maybe handling this cautiously would be best."

Shepard chuckles. "I'll give it a shot. How bad can it be, anyway?" The tram finally stops, and we head out…looking straight down the barrels of a multitude of weapons as we look up at the security point in front of us.

"That bad," I mutter next to her. No-one goes for their weapons, instead Shepard advances forwards, hands raised to show she's unarmed. Their captain, slightly dark-skinned guy, frantically waves his hands at the other men to stand down. Good of him.

"Sorry, sorry!" he apologies quickly. "We couldn't be sure of what was on the tram."

Shepard laughs lightly, shaking her head. Nice to see she's turning the charm on…anything to help this go smoothly. "Relax. I'd only be annoyed if you started shooting."

The Captain smiles too, relieved. "They might be hopped up on stims, but we've got rules. Two legs good, four legs bad. You're human…" he glances back at the rest of the squad. "Well, you're not them, but I'd like to know who you are."

"I'm a Spectre, the name's Shepard," she explains. "This is my crew." I give the bloke an awkward wave, which he returns with a nod of the head. Ah, he's alright.

"You're heavily armed, there's a lot of you, suits me just fine," he grins. "Name's Captain Ventralis. The aliens overran the hot labs last week, only Han Olar got out. He's not all there any more, mind." Even Chris Redfield would have probably been scarred by that shit, I'm guessing… "First sign we got was them clawing into the command post…back when we had a full compliment of staff." The grin on his face quickly turns back to a saddened frown…and I can't say I blame him. He'll be feeling pretty responsible right now, even if it's not really his fault.

Shepard gives him a reassuring smile. "They surprise attacked, plus you had civilians to protect. You've done a pretty admirable job, Captain."

"Doesn't exactly feel like it," the man sighs. "They sent an asari to help clean the place up, she went into the hot labs. No word from her since." I can hear Liara gasp lightly behind me…bringing up the family relation here probably isn't the best move, especially with that asari assassin around here somewhere. I remember her alright. "I've got a card here, if you really want it. Should get you down to the hot labs, though God knows why you'd actually want to go down there. If you need first aid," he looks me up and down, raising an eyebrow. "Which from the looks of it you might, Dr. Cohen's downstairs in the med-bay."

"Thanks for helping us out," Shepard smiles. Ventralis actually seems alright, too bad he and the rest of the men'll turn on us if Benezia asks them too. Let's not give her an excuse.

"No problem," he replies. "Got to get back to w-" A sudden screech from behind us knocks him off his thoughts, though, as the ventilation shaft flips open from behind us and two rachni crawl out. Crap, how did I miss that?

The pistols so far have been useless, so I go straight for the sniper rifle, not bothering with the sights and just aiming vaguely at the rachni's face.

The recoil knocks my arm back significantly, but the round tears a massive hole in its side, and Wrex finishes it for me with a shotgun blast. Next to me, Shepard flares up blue and brings her hands crashing down, lifting the rachni slightly before slamming it straight back down with a pretty nasty crunch. Damn, those biotics are putting in work…though it's quite nice we're taking care of the rachni fairly easily now, thanks to some kind of tactical approach beyond freaking the fuck out.

"Thanks for that," Ventralis breathes heavily. Why? He didn't even do anything! "Every few hours, we get another group from the trams. It's been a lot better since we locked down the elevator, actually."

"They keep doing this?" Shepard asks suspiciously. "Even when they're dying in such large numbers?"

"Hey, it beats me," Ventralis says. "I'd rather they learnt their lesson as well. You'd better get going before the doctor runs out of supplies, anyway."

Shepard nods to him curtly, beckoning for us to follow a safe distance away before turning to consult the rest of the group. "I don't trust anyone here," she states bluntly. Smart girl. "They're all on Saren and Benezia's payroll, so if we even begin acting out of line we can probably expect a bullet to the back of the head."

"Maybe we should be more subtle about this, then," Garrus says. "We could split up and try to find a way to Benezia. Maybe Dr. Cohen will know something."

"Not a bad idea," Shepard muses. "Alright. Ian, Garrus, Wrex, you see the doctor and try to dig up what you can. You seemed to work rather well back on Hanshan. Liara and I will take a look at the hot labs. Everyone good?" I nod happily. Working with Wrex and Garrus again…I knew they'd make a good team. They just don't know it yet! Though out of my eye, I see the asari assassin glaring over at us, still looking as we head towards the med-bay. Just as we round the corner, I see her stand and slowly follow after us.

She's probably going to follow us into wherever that doctor sends us to make his cure, though if I can warn Garrus and Wrex that she's coming…and just like that, a plan begins to form in my mind. A way to form that cure, and make sure we don't get shot in the bargain.

That asari is going to get _dealt with_. I've played Assassin's Creed, girl, you can't outsmart me.

**A/N: So, rachni are scary. Not in the actual Mass Effect games, but come on, look at those things! Would you want to fight one? **

**Anyway, next chapter should hopefully be the conclusion of Noveria. Actually, stuff that, it **_**will **_**be the conclusion. Even if it takes a lot of words, more than normal, I'll get it done. Sick. Of. This. Place. Though that mean the next chapter takes a little longer to write than usual…though not as long as this one did, since I don't have a Recreation chapter to worry about.**

**Alright, thanks for all the reviewers, the fans in general, the people who just got caught up now…and I'll see you next chapter.**


	26. Ian vs The Song

Chapter 26

Pre-boss Fight – Muse: Assassin

Benezia Fight – Greg Edmonson: Cat and Mouse

**A/N: Well, here we go. I said I'd get it finished this chapter, and I intend on keeping that promise. Assassins to kill, Benezia to fight…no time to waste!**

**Apologies for spelling mistakes if they exist. Haven't had time to check this particularly thouorughly.**

I keep on glancing over my shoulder as we head down the winding corridor, curved walls bearing down on us as we walk. As much as I'd love to execute my plan now…that'd look hella suspicious on how I knew she was coming, and know she's an assassin. But the least I can do is at least hint at it…

"We're being followed," I whisper, causing both Garrus and Wrex to swivel around and give me an odd look. Hmm, that wasn't really hinting, more just telling them. Oh well. "Some asari's coming down here after us."

"So?" Garrus shrugs. "Maybe she just wants medical attention."

I raise an eyebrow. "I'm not in the habit of sneaking around when I need first-aid, Garrus. Call me paranoid, but we're being followed. I know it."

"You're paranoid," Wrex grunts, making me want to faceplam. Left myself so open for that… "Though you might be right in this case. I wouldn't trust anyone around here as far as I could throw them."

"You can throw pretty far," I point out.

"Just trying to use the idiom," he mutters. "Maybe the turian's right and it is nothing, but we can just keep one eye out. Better that than a knife in the back." Good, now the plan won't seem completely out of nowhere when I spring it…man, I hope it works! We head up to the med-bay door, which slides open…and the stench of death hits my nostrils, making me stagger back a little bit in shock. People laid out on beds, if not dead then almost there…weak groans filling the air. My God, what happened in here? I never did this bit in Mass Effect 1 so I've got literally no idea what I'm gonna see…

Garrus too looks amazed, addressing the one man standing over one of those affected. "Spirits…Dr. Cohen, I'm guessing?"

Cohen spins around quickly, looking at us accusingly. "What are you doing in here?"

"Helping," I smile reassuringly, stepping towards him as Garrus and Wrex follow. "Ventralis mentioned something about a cure? Did the rachni do this?"

"They're suffering from a toxin," he mutters, as all of our eyes narrow at the realisation the rachni didn't do this. So someone within the company must have. "It was an accident!" Cohen quickly adds, taking in our looks. "I have a non-disclosure agreement, I shouldn't be discussing this!"

I shrug. "You're the one who asked for help. So you're going to have to disclose, because we might just be able to help you."

"Hopefully our company finds our lives more valuable than their secrets…" he mutters. Probably not. "Mira, the VI for Peak 15, she handles security protocols for our experiments here."

"We met her," Wrex grunts. "Reactivated her on our way here. Not much of a conversationalist."

Cohen chuckles lightly. "I suppose not. I'm much obliged for you turning her back on, though. The automatic equipment wouldn't work until she came online. We lost the connection in the middle of an experiment, and…the quarantine failed. These three were exposed to a toxin we were working on." Ah, yes, a 'toxin'. How less specific can he be? The whole thing seems a bit fishy, if you ask me. Garrus's facial expression suggest he's thinking the same thing as me. Detective senses tingling…

"A toxin?" I ask mockingly. "You're going to have to do more than that, doctor. We're here to help you out, but you're going to need to help us first, alright? There's lives on the line here." I gesture at the toxin victims strewn out across the place.

"I suppose you have a point," Cohen replies reluctantly. Charm option succeeds! "Fine. It's a bio-weapon." Both my eyebrows go up with shock. Bio-weapon? Don't bring my mind onto Resident Evil in a place as creepy as this, not now! "Based on an exotic life form discovered on the frontier. They wanted something that could kill it, but there wasn't any profit in something that kills one species!"

"Apparently there's profit in one that neuters them," Wrex mutters, making Garrus sigh lightly next to me. Come on, man…

Cohen looks a little confused, then just continues regardless. "So we kept working on it, adapting it to affect more and more species. Phoros-B is highly infectious, but not contagious from person to person, like a bio-war attack without the pandemic spread on it."

"Oh, that makes it okay then!" I say sarcastically. "Are you fucking crazy? Bullets aren't contagious and they still kill a lot of people!"

"Militaries, governments, they'll get this kind of weapon one way or another!" he protests. Bullshit!

Garrus steps forward now, mandibles flared out in anger. "So that makes it okay to help them? To produce it first?"

"Hey, we're trying to limit the damage!" Cohen replies indignantly, then sighs deeply. "I know you can't see that. My notes and equipment are locked in the quarantine labs, Ventralis doesn't want to risk more contamination."

"We'll try and get them," I say. "But we're not doing this for you. We're making a cure for these people, not for your bio-weapon."

"Try and do something for them, please," he replies calmly. "It's not about the weapon anymore. It's about saving lives."

Wrex scoffs at him. "Like you care. We'll be back soon." With that, we brush past the scientist, and I don't even want to look him in the eye. Sure, he's just working for a company…but still, a weapon like that is fucked up. End of story.

"I'm not even sure about helping him," Garrus mutters as we head back up the steps, towards Ventralis. "What they were making sounds like an abomination."

"Must be bad for a turian to be saying that about a bio-weapon," Wrex chuckles. "It's like Ian said. We're not helping him, just the people it affected."

That asari just seems to have disappeared…presumably she's onto us now, or else she'd be trying to keep up her undercover identity. Maybe she's gone to get reinforcements, I don't know. Hell, I'm not even sure where she's going to jump us, and since my plan depends so much on placement I'm praying it's in wherever Cohen's notes are. We'll just have to wait and see. "It's not gonna help if Ventralis doesn't let us in," I point out. "Let's talk him around first. Wherever he is." I glance around at all the identical looking walls…yep, I'm lost. Curse generic looking environments!

"I know where we're going," Garrus chuckles. "Follow me."

So we do.

#########

"We need to recover that toxin cure," Garrus explains to Ventralis, as Wrex and I stand back a little bit, "but the area's in quarantine. We need you to let us in."

"As much as I'd like to help those guys, we can't risk contamination," the Captain replies wearily. "Sorry."

"The doctor says there's no risk of contamination," Garrus points out. "We're the ones at risk here, not you."

Ventrails nods his head impatiently. Obviously something on his mind…coughbetrayalcough. "You want to gamble your life, you're not under my command. I'll tell the guard to let you through, but he's gonna close the door behind you. Any anomalies, you're not coming out."

"Fair enough," Garrus nods. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," the captain sighs. "Go on, get out of here. We need to be prepared if the rachni come again." The turian looks a little bemused at Ventralis's brisk manner…but doesn't say anything about it, instead just heading back over to Wrex and I as we stride out towards the quarantine area.

"What's eating him?" Wrex asks, as we get out of earshot.

Garrus shrugs. "Asides from rachni, I don't know. Considering everything that's happened around here, I think he's got a right to be a little tense."

"I have a more sinister theory," I say cheerily. May as well try and get everyone as prepared as possible, considering I know what's most likely coming. "That man's on Benezia's payroll. For all we know, he's under orders to shoot us as soon as we get close to her. Maybe that asari is as well."

"You are paranoid today, aren't you?" Garrus chuckles. "Even for your standards. Then again, Shepard did say she didn't trust anyone around here. Can't say I do either."

Wrex laughs dryly. "Makes three of us. People on this planet don't know the meaning of the word honour." He's got that right, for the most part…there's like two nice people on Noveria. At best.

"Just watch your back," I say. "I mean, we should be doing that all the time…but now do it more. Watch your back more." I frown. "Does that make much sense?"

"No," both Wrex and Garrus reply.

"I thought so."

We approach the turian guard, who gives us a rather despondent look. That said, if I was standing by that door all day with rachni clawing at the walls, I wouldn't exactly be happy either. "Stop, you're not part of the crew here!" he says angrily, holding up a talon.

"Good work, buddy," I say impatiently, getting fairly sick of all the stonewalling around here. "I'm amazed they've got someone as sharp as you on guard duty." The turian just glares at me. "We've got Ventralis's permission to go in."

"He radioed ahead to say," the guard says, now sounding even more pissed off. "He also mentioned you've got to prove you're not contaminated before I let you out!"

Wrex shrugs. "Yeah, he told us that as well. Do you think shouting makes you intimidating?" The turian looks surprised, then slowly shakes his head. "Good," Wrex snarls, walking forward and through the doors as we follow close behind. "Because all it does is make you look like an idiot." With that, the door slams shut behind us, as we catch one last glimpse of the turian's angry face.

"Great," I mutter, as we walk forward. "Now he's never going to let us out."

"That door won't hold us for long," the krogan chuckles. "You and Garrus should be able to hack it, and worse case scenario I could just knock it down." Is it wrong that I'd like to see him do that? Take down a thick, metal door? Maybe something for later. Fortunately, the room is fairly small…with a desk, some vials and a computer up ahead. I see where this is going…

Garrus looks a little bemused as we walk up, and see the notes on the table. "Erm…no chance any of you have done any biochemistry?"

"I did law and economics," I chuckle. "But I vaguely remember some chemistry from high school. Considering he just sent us over here without much guidance, it can't be that complicated. Unless you're qualified, Wrex?"

The krogan gives me a funny look.

"I'll take that as a no…come on, Garrus, take a look at this stuff." So, the notes show all the different elements, along with their chemical formula…and the combinations that make the cure. Or should do, anyway. But there's a ton of different amounts, which means we've got to balance it…and I'm still not really sure what I'm doing. Though, there's one thing I can do…

The assassin. "Do you reckon that asari is still following us?" I ask, moving to the door and reaching down to my belt.

Garrus turns to look at me, notes still clutched in one talon. "Now that you mention it, probably. I…" his gaze suddenly shifts to the grenade clutched in my right hand. "I'm sorry, do you have a plan to go along with that grenade?"

"It's quite simple, mate," I smile, reaching over and sticking the grenade onto the wall, setting it to remote detonate. "Precaution. If someone comes in after us, we simply blow them away with this bad boy."

"A trap," Wrex nods admiringly. "Good thinking. Like a hunter." Oh, the irony…hunter becomes the hunted now, I guess. Anyway, back to that cure. I walk over to the table, and glance at the notes. I'm seeing the equations…but Christ, the guy hasn't even balanced them, presumably since he knew what he was doing. Which means I've got to do that, then manually recalculate the amounts because of it…

"You might want to pull up some seats for us, Wrex," I sigh. "Looks like we're in for the long haul."

#########

As it turns out, the long haul equates to about ten minutes. We all put our heads together, even Wrex reluctantly joined in, and managed to bash out what should be a cure. Garrus probably did best, working out fairly quickly which compounds made what, while I did most of the maths work and Wrex made the occasional darkly funny comment and kept asking what would happen if he drank one of the compounds. We've all got our skill sets.

The computer is finally done mixing the compound…and the feedback says we've got a match. "Impressive," Garrus nods, smiling. "We got it."

"Told you we make a good team," I grin, putting up a hand for a high-five, which Garrus goes for eagerly. It's so cheesy, but I love it! How many people high-five Garrus Vakarian? I turn to offer one to Wrex…and see the asari and two geth by the door.

Fuck.

Oh, wait, they're standing right next to my grenade. Panic over.

"I guess you're not here to high five and celebrate a job well done," I say, drawing a pistol as Garrus and Wrex do the same. "Even for the people around here, this takes hostility a bit far."

"That's right human, joke," she scoffs. "We'll see who's laughing after you're dead."

Garrus gives her a cold glare. "Who are you, then? A sleeper agent for Benezia?"

"Yes," she nods, grinning confidently. I slowly reach for the detonator on my belt, fingers closing around it and thumb hovering over the detonate button. "I was ordered to kill Shepard and her squad if the chance arose. Splitting her group up was a nice stroke of luck. Plus, none of you suspected a thing." Oh, we'll see about that…

"Hate to break it to you," I smile, bringing up the detonator in my hand. "But you aren't as stealthy as you think. This is exactly what we suspected." Her face shows shock, disbelief…and finally understanding, as she begins to flare up blue. Oh no you don't…

I stab down on the button, explosion knocking all three enemies off their feet and flying into a wall, where they lie still and broken after impact. It's good!

Wrex nods approvingly. "Not bad. Why did you wait so long, though?"

"Wanted her to know she'd been played," I explain, as I grab the cure from the computer. "A little sadistic, but satisfying as all hell."

"The look on her face was pretty priceless," Garrus admits, as we idly walk past the bodies and out the room…to see the turian guard who'd been shouting at us just a few minutes ago lying face down on the floor. Fuck, she killed him…probably didn't even have a chance to fight back. I mean he wasn't friendly, but still…poor guy.

"We should probably get that cure back to Cohen, quick," I sigh, feeling a little sad looking at the corpse. "God knows enough people have died for it already."

#########

"We've got your cure," Wrex grunts as we walk up to the doctor. "It was hard to make while we were dodging bullets at the same time, though."

"Wait, you were attacked?" Cohen asks, as I roughly hand the cure over to him. I know he wasn't behind it, but still. Bio-weapon research hasn't done him any favours. "I swear, I know nothing about that! I hate conflict!"

Garrus coughs lightly next to me. "Says the man doing bio-weapon research…"

"Look," Cohen explains, "the guards have been seriously on edge since you all got here. And I mean more than when the rachni got out. It seems to me like they were expecting you."

Wrex frowns. "That would explain why their captain is so angry. Still, are they going to be a problem?"

"There are more labs in the back that the guards won't even let me in!" he says. "Maybe they're hiding something. Look, I just want to help my friends. If you can sort out what's going on around here I'll do whatever it takes to help!"

"Is there another way into those labs, then?" I ask. "Maybe some maintenance tunnels or something?" Because if memory serves, there are…

"Yes, of course…I have a pass for them, actually," he says hurriedly, fumbling around in his pockets for a second before handing the pass to Garrus. "Thank you. For all your help."

Garrus gestures around the room at all the people. "Doing it for them. Thanks for the pass, though, it co-" The turian suddenly stops halfway through his sentence and holds up a talon for silence. Sure enough, I can hear some shouting from above, boots pounding on the metal floor…and gunshots. Even worse, the noises are coming closer to the stairs down into here. Shepard must have done something to piss them off…presumably by being alive.

"Hide," I hiss at the doctor, rushing up to the door and standing on one side next to it. It only sounds like one guy is coming down here…but my heart's in my mouth as the door slides open and he comes through, aiming his assault rifle straight at Garrus. I can literally see his finger tense on the trigger, as I reach up and plant my pistol firmly next to the side of his head.

"Drop it," I say calmly, ramming the muzzle in for effect. The guard looks despondent, but drops the gun to the floor, knowing he's done. "Now, what the hell's going around here?"

He spits on the ground vehemently. "Your Commander survived, that's what. The hot labs were filled with rachni that were supposed to take her down, but she comes back up the elevator. The contingency plan was shooting her and the asari, then taking care of you three."

"One person to take three of us?" Wrex asks. "I'm insulted!"

"It doesn't matter," the guard chuckles dryly. "We'll get you in the end."

"You'd be surprised," I mutter, then twat him around the back of the head hard with the pistol, knocking him to the floor unconscious. No point in killing him…besides, the headache he's gonna wake up with should be enough of a punishment. Cohen slowly emerges from the supply cupboard he was hiding behind, looking shocked at the guard in front of us. "You were right," I explain, looking up at the doctor. "They were against us all along. Think you can restrain this guy with something? We're needed back up top." Garrus and Wrex both grab their weapons when I say that. Time to rumble…

The doctor still looks shaken, but nods slowly. "I think so. I…I wasn't expecting this."

"Well, neither were we," Garrus says, heading for the door as Wrex follows close behind. "Shepard's up there. We need to go, now!" With that, the turian dashes upstairs, Wrex quickly glancing over at me as he sets off.

"I think that might be a bit more than professional concern," he comments.

I roll my eyes at him, then set off after Garrus.

#######

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Shepard says, raising an eyebrow as we all burst out into the main area, soldier corpses strewn all over the place. "You missed all of the fun." Fun just about covers it…the whole place has been torn up, chairs flung about the place, the dents in the walls and broken corpses below them, and I'm talking _broken. _Bordering on the unnecessary.

"You two did this all by yourself?" I ask, amazed by the sight. Moral of the story, don't fuck with biotics…

Both her and Liara nod, actually looking rather pleased with themselves. "They…were not a particularly good opposition," Liara admits. "Unlike those rachni in the hot labs we went to." She shivers slightly. "My skin's still crawling to think of them."

"Bastards led us into a trap," Shepard says angrily. "The hot labs were filled with those damn rachni things, then as soon as we come out we've got these bloody morons shooting at us. How about you? Manage to get anything vaguely constructive done?"

"Think so," I smile, as Garrus holds out the maintenance pass to her. "This might help a bit. Cohen gave it to us after we made him a cure for some toxin his workers were suffering from. Got to say, looks like you got the short straw here. All we did was some chemical synthesis then blew up an asari assassin Benezia had in the station."

The commander raises an eyebrow, grabbing the pass. "She had an assassin in here as well as all the heavily armed soldiers? No expense spared, eh?"

"I'm taking it as a compliment, that she sends that many people," Garrus chuckles. "We seem to have quite the reputation."

"You don't say…" Shepard mutters, as we follow her towards the doors into maintenance and through. "Looks like she's saving herself for the final fight, though. I'm not exactly mad about facing a matriarch." I can hear Liara gulp slightly next to me, presumably at the thought of what's waiting for us…so I glance over and give her a little smile, which she returns. God knows she needs it right now. Well, if memory serves, that final fight Shepard's talking about should literally just be around the corner…

True enough, after a minute or so of cautious walking and door opening, there's a small gasp of shock from Shepard as we all see an enormous rachni…which turns into a sigh of relief when she notices it's in a tank. Not the heavily armoured, lethal kind of tank, the research one. A rachni in a military tank…Christ, that's a horrifying though. Her Majesty the queen doesn't seem to take much notice of us though…but the asari wearing a long dress and frankly ridiculous hat next to it does.

"Benezia…" I hear Liara whisper lightly next to me. This ain't going to be pretty…

"Benezia!" Shepard shouts, moving up towards the asari as we all follow close behind. I remember this place, central raised platform with the ramp leading up to it, square walkway going around the edge of the room…and those four doors which I know are hiding an obscene amount of enemies. Plus a lot of obligatory cover. We've got a fight on our hands, that's for sure, and the rachni queen in the middle of it all makes everything oddly atmospheric, as she coolly observes the events unfolding before her.

"You do not know the privileges of being a mother," Benezia says slowly, turning to face. God, that's Liara's mother? Even though Liara's fairly good looking and Benezia is ugly as sin? Must have got it from her father… "There is power in creation. To shape a life, turn it towards happiness or despair."

Liara looks distraught, taking a careful step forward. "Mother? It's me, Liara!"

The matriarch just shoots her a scornful look, then glances towards the rachni queen. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." Benezia's eyes drift back to Liara for a second, and I can faintly see something flicker in her gaze…then nothing again as she addresses Shepard. The indoctrination isn't complete, so Liara must be having an effect, however slight. "I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into this confrontation."

"Liara's not fighting for me. She's fighting for herself, not because I asked her to come," Shepard snarls.

"Indeed," Benezia chuckles. "What has she told you about me?"

"Enough," I shout back, after Shepard surprisingly falls silent. Huh. Benezia just keeps on laughing lightly, slightly dead gaze shifting onto me. Ugh, creepy.

"Go on, Liara," the matriarch says. "Tell me what you've said. To this human. To the rest of your squad."

Liara's shaking slightly as she looks up at her mother, voice cracking a little but remaining defiant. "What was I supposed to say? That you're insane? Evil? Give them notes on how to kill you? Ian's right, I've told them enough. You don't get to know."

"As you wish," Benezia mutters, then looks back at Shepard. "Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

"Have you ever faced your own daughter in battle before?" Liara shouts, taking another step forward. "You would actually kill me?"

"I should have been stricter with you," Benezia snarls, then launches an arm out. Oh crap, she does stasis on everyone at the start of the fight…I feel all my muscles begin to tighten, lock into place…

Then it suddenly breaks, and Liara strides past me, one arm up herself, biotics flared and fury written all across her face. "Too late for that now," she growls. Hello, bitch Liara…

Two extremely powerful biotics, facing each other down. And instead of just one door opening, all three waves are out.

Bugger. Garrus and I exchange a quick look, then glance back at the sheer amount of weapons being pointed around the place, that moment of silence before the fight begins. We both shrug, then dive for cover.

That movement makes the fight begin. The geth and asari commandos move forward swiftly, streaming fire at us extremely rapidly, bullets chipping and sparking all over the crate Garrus and I are huddling behind. From across the way, Shepard and Wrex are sheltered behind their cover, but only two geth are blasting away at them. Which means we're taking the brunt of the fire from…I poke my head out for a headcount, then quickly bring it back in as a sniper round flies just past my skull. Seven or eight enemies, by the looks of it, three commandos and some geth. I'll take those odds.

I blind-fire over cover, glancing over at the biotic battle raging nearby. Benezia shoots a swarm of blue bolts at Liara, who rapidly knocks them out of the way with her own then launches a warp at Benezia, who only narrowly avoids it. "Why did you do it, mother?" I hear her shout, then a small yelp of pain as Benezia's countering push hits her. No way I can risk shooting at Benezia without risking hitting Liara…and the bullets pinging past my shoulder remind me we've got problems of our own!

Garrus grabs a grenade of his belt next to me, hurling it over the cover without even looking and prematurely detonating it, sending a chorus of asari screams and geth screeches echoing around the chamber.

"You would not understand, child!" Benezia shouts back from across the room, but I chance a glance around cover again to check the grenade damage. I'm a little worried about Liara…but self-preservation comes first. It's not like I can do anything to help over there. I see one asari picking herself up the floor. Two of the geth have been turned to scrap by it, one commando lies dead…and I've got no idea where the other went, but I'm guessing over the edge of the walkway. Nasty way to go.

"Not bad," Garrus grins, eyes roving to his visor. "Quad grenade. That'll help out." Oh yeah, kill competition…

"How am I d-" I begin to ask, until some bullets chipping at my side cut me off. Oh, some bastard geth's gone round the side to shoot at me! I lift one pistol with two hands, for the extra accuracy, and plug it three times in the head. Fuck. Your. Life. Shields are still stable at 33%...and there's one cry from the remaining commando as Shepard and Wrex dispatch her, ironically, with biotics.

"Try me!" Liara yells, launching a barrage of attacks and pushing Benezia on the defence. Liara seems to have the upper hand, attacking the matriarch relentlessly…and it looks like Benezia is beginning to tire.

One more synthetic goes down from Garrus's sniper fire, now that we've got some room to manoeuvre and aim without being shot in the face. That leaves one geth, and four pissed off squad members.

It lasts around a second.

With one final shout of effort, I just catch Liara launch an enormous push at Benezia, who's defence finally breaks. With a cry, the matriarch falls down on the floor…power and energy spent. Liara walks over to her, the asari's shoulders heaving and chest rising and falling heavily from her exertion, but she's still got enough air in her lungs to talk as we hurry over.

"I need a reason," she says quietly, tone almost…begging. "Please."

"It is pointless," the matriarch replies, slowly rising back to her feet. "Saren is unstoppable." We all bring our weapons up to point at her…but Liara's standing in front and I don't think any of us would risk actually shooting, except maybe Wrex, so it's more for show than anything else. "My mind is filled with his light, everything is clear!"

Liara takes a cautious step back, eyes widening. "Then I have my reason. You're indoctrinated. What is he trying to achieve, mother? You're beaten here, but you can still fight the mind control."

"I will not betray him," she says, but her eyes flicker with recognition as she looks into her daughter's eyes. "I…you must…" She starts blinking rapidly, limbs shaking…then looks up at all of us, her gaze finally calm. Now, there's life behind it. "You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight it, but not for long. I managed to seal part of my mind away from the indoctrination, but eventually it too will break. I will turn on you eventually, but it would not be my will."

Liara takes a step forward towards her, eyes growing slightly moist, but Benezia holds up a hand to stop her. God, this is pretty emotional for me to just watch…I don't even want to know what Liara's feeling. "Don't, Liara, we do not have time," she says, face remaining calm but sad tone entering her voice.

"We need you to help us," Shepard says, finally intervening. "Can you tell us anything about Sovereign? Where did it come from?"

"I cannot be sure," she frowns. "The technology it uses is far beyond any species, even the geth. The longer you stay aboard it, the more Saren's will seems correct, making you sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. I thought I could resist, in my arrogance, but I was wrong. I was sent here to find the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago." This is almost it…the last bit of the puzzle we need before Virmire to work out Saren's plan.

Shepard looks confused. "Someone here had it?"

"The rachni used to inhabit that region of the galaxy," Benezia explains, talking faster now. She knows she's losing her fight against the indoctrination… "They discovered the relay, and they can share memories across generations." Huh, a bit like Protheans, I guess… "Queens inherit the memories from their mothers, and I took it from her. I…was not gentle," she adds, mournfully.

"Why the Mu Relay?" Shepard asks, her tone taking on a frantic edge. We all know we're fighting against time here, and if we don't get the relevant info…well, we're fucked, to put it bluntly.

Benezia opens her mouth to talk slightly, then suddenly stops, shaking her head slightly. Oh, come on, keep it together…she looks back up again, but her face remains softer than while she was indoctrinated. I whistle out a small sigh of relief. "He believes it will lead him to the Conduit. I would tell you more, but this is all I know. I have the information on an OSD…" she says, voice cracking. "Please, take it." Shepard quickly reaches over and snatches it out of her hands. Fair enough, since nobody wants to be right next to her when the indoctrination kicks in again…

"We need his destination," Garrus mutters. "This is good, but it's not enough."

"He did not say," Benezia gasps. Looks like it's time. I feel terrible just watching this, not being able to do anything… "I can't go much longer…his teeth are in my ear." Is that a term of speaking, or did Saren actually do something like that to her… Ugh, nonono, don't think about _that!_ "Liara," she says, turning to her daughter, and I can see the tears in both their eyes. Shit, this is making me well up too… "I did not mean what I said before. I am proud of you, daughter, and I always will be."

"Mother…" Liara sobs, but we all know it's too late.

"Goodbye," Benezia says sadly, and shuts her eyes. When they snap open again, the dead look is back. "Die!"

Before I even have a chance to react, an enormous force smashes into my chest and sends me flying, arms instinctively curling up over my chest as I fly. Aagh, fuck m-

My back crashes into the railing, cutting off my thoughts completely as I slump to the floor face down, black spots dancing around the edge of my vision and thoughts beginning to blur. Oh, crap, I'm passing out…I faintly hear gunfire, and see Benezia finally falling to the floor at the edges of my vision. Oh, it's over already…the blackness is definitely encroaching in now. I'm pretty knackered from this mission, mind, maybe it's not a bad thing…I can't feel the pain from impact.

Then, just as the blackness almost takes over, I hear a faint note in my mind. Like a guitar being plucked, but slightly out of tune. It gradually gets louder and louder, then a melody joins in, a mournful choir humming a melancholy tune as the guitar continues to strum away, the single notes turning into chords. It makes me want to move again, lift up my arms and rise up, to say the words the song is hinting at…

I don't know what brings me out of it. It might be the particularly crisp C# the choir hits, maybe a wrong note played, but I can feel myself gradually coming back into consciousness. And what the song actually is. Oh my God, the rachni queen is inside my fucking head!

_I'm not dead! _I will through my mind. _Get out! _The song suddenly shifts key, jumping up as if with surprise, but still staying in. And with it, with my consciousness and thoughts returning, I feel a faint probing in my skull. It's trying to read my mind!

_No! _I mentally yell, and just like that the vision flares up. The burning images of Reapers, Shepard falling down on the battlefield…I haven't seen it for a while, and the intensity at which it comes back makes my head feel like it's splitting open. The song makes a discordant screech, the tune breaking up…and finally it's gone, leaving me staring at the cold Noverian floor and one hell of a pain in my lower back from hitting the railing.

"You okay? Ian?" I can hear Garrus shouting from next to me, as I roll over with a groan.

"Fine," I mutter, glancing over at the rachni queen…who's eyes are burning into mine. Fuck, how much does she know? The vision came up quick, so she'll only have got a glimpse at best…hopefully a glimpse won't be enough for her to work it out. "Just got my ass kicked with biotics, that's all. Back kills, but no lasting damage. I hope." I grab Garrus's talon as he heaves me up, and we all turn to face the rachni queen. Or rather, the possessed asari standing in front of Shepard. Looks like she found a different host…

"This one serves as our voice," the asari says, but it the voice whispers around the room as she talks. Or maybe it's just me. I can't tell. "We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colourless."

"Great," Wrex grunts. "This is going to be a fun conversation."

Actually, I'm kind of curious to know what the hell she was doing in my head…but can't exactly ask that outright, because she might have seen something I'd rather she didn't mention…plus it'll make me sound weird. "Musics?" I ask, and the queen's eyes swivel on me, along with the asari's. The asari frowns, albeit very slightly.

"Your way of communicating is strange, normally, flat, doesn't colour the air… but yours is different," she says to me. "Still no colour, but you sing with an odd note." Everyone turns to look at me. Looks like she did only get a glimpse after all…enough to be suspicious about me, but not enough to piece together the full picture. At least, not yet. I need to say something, though, despite the really annoying position she's put me in…

"It's called a monotone," I finally reply, getting a little laugh from Wrex.

The asari shakes her head, moving on. Thank Christ. "When we speak, one moves all. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced." I can see Wrex tensing as she talks…hopefully he won't blow her head off or something. That would be so like him. "We are rachni."

"Our kind sing through the touchings of thought." I know all about that now…still hard to think that thing was in my head. "We pluck the strings, and the other understands."

_Like this, _I hear the same voice whisper in my head, almost making me jump about a foot into the air. Thankfully, no-one registers my shock, too busy staring at the asari and queen. "She is weak to urging." _You are not, _the voice whispers, echoing around, _but the connection has been made. _I can't feel her presence in my mind, like the when I've melded with asari before, and like when she tried to take me over…but the voice still remains. _We are not in your thoughts, simply speaking to them._

The asari continues to talk as she did in-game, explaining to Shepard about why her children became evil and killers.._._but she still whispers to me. God, I'm freaking out a little… _We have seen some of your mind, _the queen explains. I can hear faint music as she talks, which must presumably be being translated into words. _You are different from any we have felt before._

_That's crazy, _I think back, but even my mental voice is wavering slightly. I really don't like this… _What's so different?_

_Your memories. Your song. Only a glimpse, and we do not understand it completely, but there is something. Your secret, you do not want us to reveal to your friends. You are not completely of this universe's origin. _Is there any real point trying to deny it? After all, she's seen things I can't make her unsee…

_Maybe not, _I shoot back, taking a quick glance around the room. The asari's still talking away, and nobody's looking at me. Don't want to accidentally give anything away with a facial expression… _What else have you seen?_

_Nothing else that we understand. That may come in time, _she answers. _If it is your wish, we will not reveal your secret._

Really? Shit, what if there's some kind of condition behind this… _Why would you do that?_

_You fight those who took our children, stole our eggs, turned them into beasts of war with no songs of their own, _she explains, and I can physically feel her sorrow and anger as she talks. _There is logic behind your decision to keep that secret, and we understand that. Consider it…our way of thanks. _Fucking around with my head is their way of thanks, eh? Though, I guess I owe her a bit for that…

_Thank you, _I project back. _So, what now? Do you stay in my head?_

_No, the connection is based on proximity, since your mind is healthy and well. Plucking the mind's strings is difficult the further the distance between us. _Well, that's a hell of a relief. _Your commander must face a decision. To release us, or condemn us to extinction. Either way, we will not linger in your thoughts._

Bloody hell, that's a relief… _When must she decide, then?_

_Now. _With that, the song dies in my head…and my mind is perfectly clear. I can still see the queen looking at me, but the rachni is addressing Shepard. If she releases the tank…my secret has no chance of getting out. Understanding in time, she said. Do I want her to understand? Then again, is it worth the extinction of an entire race because she knows something about me, that she promises to keep a secret? Rachni don't really seem the type to renege on promises…

"We stand before you," the asari's slow, stumbling voice says. "Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?" My personal decision? I'm coming down on the side of release. I can't condone killing her…not a species that majestic, where we already have a connection. There's a risk involved…but an even heavier one if we don't have the rachni backing us up when the Reapers finally arrive.

Wrex seems to disagree. "There's acid tanks rigged up to that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put those things down, don't let them come back."

"Killing her consigns an entire race to death," Garrus points out. "Let the Council decide."

"The Council can barely make a decision about C-Sec policy, never mind genocide," I say. "It's up to you, Shepard. But I'm against killing them." Liara stays silent at the back…still looking saddened from Benezia's death. Then, she suddenly looks up.

"Enough have died today," she says quietly. "Let them go free." She's taking this hard…hell, of course she is! Can I really expect her to see her mother die then just go 'meh' and carry on? I should probably drop in and see her once we're back on the Normandy.

"Your companions hear the truth," the asari says simply. "You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory."

Shepard replies almost immediately, folding her arms and looking the asari dead in the eye. "I won't kill an entire species. You go free." Ha, she had her mind made up the whole damn time…

"Are you stupid?" Wrex shouts. "After everything I told you! Your people didn't fight those bastards, so maybe you don't get it!"

"They've changed, Wrex," Shepard replies calmly. "Besides, are we any better if we kill them all?"

The krogan just waves her away with a hand. "Do whatever the fuck you want." Wrex used the f word? "My people will clean up this mess later, just like we did for the salarians." Come on Wrex, have a little faith…wow, he is fuming. Muscles all tensed, _huge _frown on his face as he glares at the rachni queen. Great, this is gonna help on Virmire…

"You…will give us a chance to compose anew?" the asari says, voice taking on a tone of surprise. "We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

"Great. Bugs are writing songs about you," Wrex mutters. "Mark my words, you'll regret this." Shepard, thankfully, just ignores him, reaching forward and tapping the buttons to release the queen. No hesitation as she does so. Committed to her decision. Looks like she's been able to put that personal problem to one side…at least for now.

The hydraulics on the tank squeal as it rises up, the rachni queen taking one last look down at Shepard as her escape route finally opens. Then at me.

_Thank you. _Then the presence is gone again, and this time for good, as she leaps from the tank and away. That's another person who knows…or has a vague idea, anyway. Not good. Especially considering Shiara suggested I tried _not _to fuck up canon…

"What's so bad about having a song written about you anyway, Wrex?" Garrus chuckles, as we all finally turn to leave. And not a second too soon. I hate this bloody place, the fear, the cold, the bureaucrats… "I wouldn't mind." Wrex just grunts at him…but there's a small smile on the krogan's face as he does so. I can't imagine he's happy, but at least he's not going crazy. That would put the icing on the cake, wouldn't it?

"It was the right decision," Shepard says firmly. "We're doing an entire race good, and you won't have to clean it up, Wrex."

Liara nods along with Shepard's words, still looking sad, but expression softened slightly showing relief it's all finally over here. "I agree. The Council will make the final decision, I suppose."

"Looking forward to that," Shepard mutters, as we advance through the quiet corridors of Peak 15. I'm getting a nagging feeling saying that the queen finding out is gonna bite me in the ass…but I ignore it. Not much I can do about it anyway, short of finding the rachni homeplanet and killing her. Though I imagine I could probably recruit Wrex to help with that. "Come on, everyone back to the Mako. We're done here."

##########

Shepard suddenly brings the Mako to a halt on the road, literally just a few metres from the garage, cliff edge on our right. Huh? Are we out of fuel or something? Because that would be _typical…_

"You know what," Shepard says, addressing everyone from the driver's seat, "this whole time here, everyone's been taking from us. We've had Anoleis bothering us, Ventralis stabbing us in the back, assassin's in Peak 15…those evil rachni."

"So?" Garrus shrugs. "It's what we deal with. Why are you saying this?"

Shepard flashes him an evil grin. "Because I've got a plan at payback. The one thing they lent us, I'm gonna destroy." What's she talking ab…oh, I see!

I raise an eyebrow. "Destroy the Mako? That's immature, Shepard."

"I don't really care," she shrugs. "It's symbolic. Leave the Executive Board to foot the bill for a new one…it's like fining them for being pricks." Really? That's pretty much pointless…but actually fairly satisfying. Pretty convoluted revenge scheme, but it's the best we've got.

"Hell, I'm in," I say, as the rest of the squad nods from around the cockpit. Shepard pops open the doors…fuck, it's freezing! We should be able to last, though. Shepard takes off the breaks and then jumps out, as the tank starts rolling towards the cliff edge.

I look over at Garrus, just before it topples over. "How much do those things cost?"

"About 50,000 credits."

I whistle quietly. "I think that's a suitable fine. Don't you?" The Mako finally goes over the edge, as we all turn and walk the last few metres into the garage, and back to the Normandy.

"Absolutely," Garrus replies, shooting me a little grin as we walk into the warmth. Behind us, I faintly hear an explosion, presumably as the Mako hits the ground.

For once, however slight it might be, it's good to get our own back.

**A/N: Hurray! It's finally over! So we can do more crew interactions next chapter, maybe the one after as well…then, it's time for Virmire. And all the epicness that involves. **

**Well, now the rachni queen has a vague picture of who Ian really is. Only time will tell if she manages to piece it together fully…and the repercussions that might have. But that's for much later.**

**Thank you for reading, reviewing…and I'll see you next chapter!**


	27. Ian vs The Speculation

Chapter 27

Snow Patrol: Spitting Games

**A/N: And we're back! A little bit later than usual…and this is how it'll probably stay, I'm afraid. I have exams and stuff to prepare for, and I prepare for stuff very early, so updates may go down to once a week as I fit it in around revising and other social stuff I get up to. I'll try my best to get them out, though. **

**Well, after all the violence and general chaos on Noveria, it's about time we kicked back for a bit around the Normandy. I've been hinting at romances a bit throughout MtM…time to at least start making some more concrete connections. Plus find out what's been bugging Shepard. So, onwards!**

It's kind of odd, sitting in the circle of chairs in the briefing room as Shepard sets up the link to the Council. Garrus on my right hand side, still dressed in his armour…still, he seems to hate taking that stuff off for something casual. Hell, he only ever wore casual gear when we went out to Flux or something back on the Citadel during C-Sec times, and I swear he sleeps with that visor on. Still, whatever suits him.

Only time I've not in some way been badly injured on incapacitated after a mission, come to think of it…except after Feros, but I missed the briefing after that on account of 'talking' to Shiala, and getting those burns checked out by Chakwas took a fair bit of time as well. So I feel a little conspicuous and awkward, since this is the first time I've been to one of these, and everyone is either wearing their armour or Normandy casual clothes, while I threw on a V-neck, jeans and Converse trainers I managed to hoard from vintage shops on the Citadel. Feeling a little out of place…but I'm probably feeling more physically comfortable because of my clothes than anyone else does. You'd expect future clothes to be comfortable, but I'm not seeing it.

It's been a controversial mission, that much is obvious. Wrex, while not quite as mad as he was at the moment Shepard released the rachni, still doesn't look best pleased, and Liara hasn't talked much after the whole deal with Benezia. Can't say I blame either of them…hell, I'm still not sure if letting the rachni queen go was the best idea. One person, Shiala, that's fine, especially since I was hoping the Cipher would go someway in helping out…but a whole species? Unless the queen just keeps it to herself, but considering they're telepathically tuned to each other that's unlikely. Then again, making a species that awe-inspiring extinct? That's plain wrong. All I can do is wait and see if it has an effect, I suppose…hopefully it won't end the galaxy in some convoluted way. That would be a little extreme.

At last, the holograms flicker into life, and Shepard rises to her feet as the Council appear in front of us. The asari looks her usual calm self…actually, if I had to say which Council member I hate the least, it'd be her. I almost like her, in fact, considering she's the voice of reason most of the time. The salarian's cool because of the badass hood…but the turian councillor has to ruin it, doesn't he? Standing there, glaring at Shepard. Dick.

"Is this report accurate, Commander?" the asari asks, incredulously. Wow, Shepard works quick…must have sent that off as we all got freshened up after the mission. Not bad. "You found rachni on Noveria?"

"That's correct," Shepard nods, putting her hands behind her back and looking directly into the turian councillor's glare. "Is there a problem?"

I'm surprised the turian's head doesn't explode when she says that. "A problem? Do you have any idea what you've done by releasing the queen? How many generations until they overrun the galaxy?"

"Three, at best…" Wrex mutters behind me. The Council don't seem to hear him.

"What do you suggest I should have done then, sir?" Shepard asks calmly. "Committed genocide? Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Depends on the species, human," the turian mutters quietly, then the signal disconnects. No, he did not just say that! Motherfucker stole one of Shepard's best lines! The commander herself gawps at where his hologram was slightly, before turning back to us.

"Good comeback," she finally shrugs, chuckling. Well, at least she sees the funny side. "The mission was productive for more than saving a species, though." I can see Wrex rolling his eyes from across the way, but Shepard just ignores him. "The Mu Relay. What are we going to do about that?"

Ash perks up a little from her position. "We should go for it now. Try to stop Saren before he has a chance to use it." Oh, come on Ash, think about it…

"That would not work," Liara explains apologetically. "We do not know how many other relays it is connected to. To make any use of it, we need a destination."

Ash frowns a little, sitting back in her chair. Oh crap, here comes round two of laying into Liara…then, surprisingly, the Chief nods her head. "Good point, Liara. How do we go about getting those, then?" Hey, tolerance! Now we're getting somewhere!

"We could always just ask Saren nicely," I shrug, getting a few chuckles from around the room. Someone ought to lighten the mood, I guess…

"If you can get close enough to ask, then by all means do it," Shepard laughs. "Distract him long enough for us to take him down and bring him in."

"If only," Garrus says. "So, do we have any leads? Anything to go on?" Heh, you can take Garrus out of C-Sec, but you can't take the C-Sec out of Garrus. I think that makes sense…best not to wind myself up about it.

Shepard nods. "Something. We received a distress call for help from a salarian team on Virmire. I don't really know what kind of trouble they've ran into, since the transmission we got was hardly high quality, but they were investigating a facility that Saren's got involvement in. Which makes it a high priority target. Once we get there," she looks pointedly at Wrex. He must have brought up the family armour, then. "I know some of us have personal things to take care of. Myself included, though I won't be needing to go off ship." She frowns a little, looking at the floor…then back up, expression it's usual calm self. There's a sadness behind her usually bright eyes, though. "Crew dismissed."

Brilliant point to leave it at, Shepard. The mention of Virmire leaves a sinking feeling in my gut…for more than one reason. Sure, there's the risk of people dying, but something else.

I'm not sure whether or not to intervene.

Ask me when I first joined the ship, I'd have said no to stepping in. But now, after Shiala finding out, after the rachni queen, hell, after all the little changes I've seen around here…maybe I should. Maybe I've taken canon past being fucked to the point of repair. Damn, that's a beautiful way of putting it. In all seriousness, Ash and Kaidan are my friends. Can I really just let one of them die? Losing Rebecca was horrible, even if I managed to get over it…but someone else close to me in such a small space of time? Even if it's scripted?

And now, Shepard leaving the conversation on such a down note is hardly helping keep my mind off things. Ignorance really is bliss, after all…all of the people on this ship hurtling towards a fate only I really know. I envy them for that, in a way. For them, Virmire is just another mission…but I know it's something much bigger. I'll just have to see during the mission. But if a chance to save them both comes up, no matter the danger…I'm taking it. My mind is set on that. Screw canon, I'm not losing someone else because of trying to follow it. I practically trip down the stairs as I head down a floor toward the elevator, thoughts not on my feet, but someone catches my arm just before I fall.

"You alright, kid?" Kaidan grins behind me. "Don't want a set of steps killing you after facing down rachni."

I smile back, heart pounding slightly from the little shock half-tripping gave me. I hate that feeling, when you know you're going to fall and _just _manage to pull yourself back… "Sorry, mate, my mind was on something else. Absolutely miles away."

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asks. Hey, I haven't heard that idiom in a while! I can't exactly tell him the whole truth…but I can at least give him a little.

"Just thinking about Virmire," I shrug. "It's got me worried, I don't know why."

"It's Saren's facility, a STG team are pinned down there, we don't even have any idea of the scale of opposition we're facing," Kaidan replies, as we head towards his spot in the crew area. "I think that's got everyone a little worried." Heh, that's a good point…even if it's not what I'm getting at.

I shake my head, leaning against the wall as he quickly checks his terminal. "It's just a gut thing. I'm not exactly calm before most missions, but this is seriously rubbing me up the wrong way." Bugger, I can't explicitly say 'you're going to die, don't go', and even if I did he'd just think I'm crazy.

"You sound like Joker," he chuckles. "Relax. If something goes wrong, I'm sure Shepard'll come rushing to our rescue." I manage a weak laugh and smile at that…at the irony Kaidan doesn't even realise. "You're normally a bit more upbeat than this, Ian. Anything else you want to talk about?" Shit, talking about Virmire isn't going to do anything bar depress me. If anyone's going to get saved, I'll have to think of something myself. No-one on the ship can know what's coming up, for all our sakes.

"You're right, sorry," I say, managing a proper smile now. Can't let it get to me…besides, a plan's forming in my mind. Simple, yet it just could work. Plus, there is something on my mind to talk to Kaidan about. "I'm not sure if upbeat's the word for it…but do you know what's going on with Shepard?" Kaidan raises an eyebrow. "You know, that personal issue she mentioned in the meeting room?"

He looks thoughtful for a second, then shakes his head. Damn. "Can't say I know what that's about," he admits. "She talks to Garrus a hell of a lot more than she talks to me, so you might want to try asking him." It sounds an innocent enough thing to say…but Kaidan's tone suggests otherwise. Does he sound bitter?

"You're the one lecturing me about not being upbeat," I point out. "Am I picking up some hostility between you and Garrus there?" Kaidan shifts uncomfortably from side to side a bit, avoiding eye contact slightly. I have put him in a rather awkward position, haven't I, considering everyone knows how close Garrus and I are…but still, his reaction proves the hostility thing was on the money.

"Don't get me wrong, I like Garrus," Kaidan explains quickly, "but I think he's distracting the Commander slightly." Is he, now?

"How so?"

"The amount they talk, spend on the games console…I mean, it's unprofessional for both of them. He's not even Alliance!" Kaidan says, sounding pretty indignant.

I cough lightly. "Kaidan, I'm not Alliance either. Should I stop talking to people?"

"I didn't mean it like that, kid," he sighs, sounding less annoyed. Kaidan always seemed like the kind of person who expels anger in short rants. "Even if it was an Alliance person she was talking to that often, I'd still say it was distracting." Oh, you hypocrite! The amount Kaidan could talk to Shepard in Mass Effect 1 was _big…_especially since he was a female romance option.

Ah, now there's a thought! Is Kaidan getting jealous?

"I think she's allowed to let her hair down a bit and get to talk to the crew for a bit," I shrug. "So she's made friends. Big deal. I saw her out in the field today, and believe me, talking to Garrus hasn't exactly dulled her skills. Unless you're insinuating they're having more than just an innocent chat." Kaidan's eyes widen a little when I say that. Ooh, sensitive subject…

"No," he says hurriedly. "That can't be it." His tone of voice suggests he might think otherwise. "I mean, he's turian for a start…would that even work?"

I grin at him, enjoying winding Kaidan up far more than I should. "They say love has no boundaries. Besides, inter-species couples are rare, but they do happen. Some girls find turian males quite attractive." Just check out the YouTube comments section for his romance scene…actually, do we still have YouTube here? Something I need to look at. I wonder if they ever got rid of ads…

"Nah," Kaidan mutters, shaking his head. "We're reading too much into it. Besides, there's the different acid structures…wouldn't that lead to problems?

I chuckle. "That leads to problems just living with each other, never mind being romantically involved. I must have had at least three allergic reactions to eating the wrong thing while we were sharing a flat, Garrus about ten when he tried my stuff after getting hammered in Flux. Still, I reckon it wouldn't be too much of an issue if a turian and human really loved each other."

"I still think they talk a bit too much," he mutters, ignoring the last comment. "Especially since Garrus is ex-turian military, and their ships tend to be stricter than ours."

"Maybe that's why he's doing it," I suggest. "Sick of the restrictions he had there. I quite like the relaxed atmosphere around here, anyway. Happier people work better at everything, even warfare."

"I like it to, but there's a line," Kaidan says. "I'm not trying to sound like a killjoy, but Shepard needs her head completely in the game, not distracted by him." Oh, fuck off, Kaidan, you wouldn't mind if you were the one distracting her…still, he's only human. I can see why he'd be a little jealous. He might be nice, but Garrus is like the Old Spice Guy compared to him. In my opinion, anyway.

I shoot him a grin. "Well, you're doing an excellent job of sounding like one." He snorts derisively, glancing back at his console.

"I know," he replies, shaking his head. "Maybe it's just me. Don't go spreading it around to Garrus, though."

"As if I'd do that," I chuckle. "You're entitled to your opinion, after all. Besides, it's not like you hate him, right?"

"God no," Kaidan replies. "He's a good man. Just distracting." I sigh mockingly as the Lieutenant smiles when he says that. At least he's got a sense of humour about the whole thing. I take a quick glance over towards the med bay, Doctor Chakwas sorting some stuff out inside…doctor. That reminds me about Liara, and Benezia. I should go and see if she's alright.

I glance back at Kaidan. "Have you seen Liara around?"

"I think she's in her usual spot," he suggests helpfully. "Talk to you later, then."

"Hope so…" I say quietly as I walk away, just out of his earshot. If the plan I'm formulating works, we will. I go up to Liara's door, which doesn't slide open automatically like normal. Huh? I glance over at the door panel…and it's red. I'm tempted to knock, but I of all people should know it helps to be alone for a bit after loss. I guess I'll check back later, see what's going down in the garage for now.

The elevator ride's gonna let me think over the plan anyway, as I press the button and slowly descend. In the end, Virmire comes down to two things. Kaidan and Ash both have to do their separate jobs, that much is certain. No holding either back, because we need that nuke, and the salarians need one of us. The choice section, where Shepard has to decide who to rescue…that's when I'll have to act.

Since Shepard normally takes a large squad, we can split up. Shepard takes some people to whoever she wishes, and myself and the rest of the squad go for the other to buy enough time for the Normandy to get us all out. It's risky, considering it spreads the force thin…but since Shepard'll be taking more than a three person squad, I reckon we can make it. Whoever's with the STG just needs back-up until the Normandy arrives, and the nuke person needs extraction. With us acting as reinforcements for both of them, we should be able to make it out.

Provided Shepard agrees to it at the time. That's the main thing worrying me. I've got no way of bringing this up before it happens…and she makes the calls. It's a dangerous plan, considering the repercussions it may have…but I can't just turn my back and walk away. Not now. Not after all we've been through. I didn't save Rebecca, but I can save someone here.

* * *

The elevator doors finally open up, and Wrex looks up at me as they do so. Wrex…now, whatever my plan, saving him is gonna be tricky if Shepard can't talk him down. Then again, it sounded like she was going to get his armour, so hopefully that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Depending on how pissed the whole rachni deal has made him.

"Those bugs shouldn't be out there," he grumbles as I approach him. Not taking it well, then… "We'll end up crushing them again, but it's a stupid danger. And you," he says accusingly, "took their side."

"It's not a matter of taking sides, Wrex," I sigh, leaning against the crates he's standing next to casually. "If you actually listened to what the queen said, the rachni have changed. The choice was releasing her, or genocide. It's not taking sides, it's morals. Don't let hatred for their species blind you."

He shakes his head firmly. "You didn't have to fight them."

"To put it bluntly, Wrex, neither did you," I reply. "It was your ancestor's war. You can't stay enemies for the rest of your life after one bloody war. I mean, there was the whole First Contact War deal, and look at Garrus and I. Hell, look a turian and human relations overall! You get the odd bitter person hanging onto the past, but a lot of people have moved on. Though I'm not sure if the turian councillor has," I add, frowning. _Really _don't like that guy. "Don't be the bitter bloke hanging onto the past, Wrex. Give them a chance."

"I guess I don't have much a choice," he mutters, but his tone sounds slightly happier than before. As happy as Wrex can sound, anyway. "Maybe it will turn out alright, like you and Shepard keep saying. I'm not expecting it, mind, but I can see why she chose to do what she did. Not that I'm agreeing with her."

I chuckle, shaking my head. I suppose that's the best I'm gonna get out of Wrex…and hey, at least he's not holding a grudge against Shepard. No room for that, considering what's coming up. "I get the feeling you almost want them to turn out bad, just so you get to fight them." He laughs, deep voice rumbling around the garage. The noise he makes does make me think how lucky I am to be friends with Wrex…I almost feel bad for our enemies. He could probably squash me like a bug, which isn't exactly a nice thought. Talking to Kaidan reminds me of something, though. "I agree with you, by the way."

He looks a little surprised by me saying that. "Agree with me about what?"

"Garrus and Shepard," I admit. "There's no point trying to deny it anymore. I can see it. He's definitely that way about her, anyway."

"Not interested in that anymore," Wrex shrugs. I gawp at him slightly.

"What?"

"Not interested."

"But that was like one of your main topics of conversation since I met you!" I point out, amazed he's just brushing it away like this. I mean, what the fuck, Wrex? "You've been pointing it out for forever and a day!"

He shakes his head slightly. "It's so obvious now it's barely even worth speculating about. I'm over the shock of a turian/human couple. Besides, something more interesting's come up."

"Really?" I ask sarcastically. "What now?"

"It involves you, actually," he replies, giving a rare grin. "And either the quarian or the asari." What? Wrex is shipping Liara or Tali now…but with me? That's contrived! Right?

"Oh, you're just messing me around…" Wrex's facial expression suggests otherwise. Fuck. "Tali and Liara? That's pretty contrived, Wrex."

The krogan leans back now, as I feel myself picking at my fingernails slightly. Subconscious worry response I seem to have… "Not really. The first sign is total denial, and you're messing with your…nails? Is that what they're called?" I nod. "You do that when you're nervous." Fuck, he picked up on it!

"Look, Wrex, I'm not exactly good looking." That's a little self-depreciating…but I'm not exactly 'classically handsome'. "Well, I wouldn't say ugly, but you know. Why would two people be after me?"

"I didn't say you were good looking," he laughs. "It's the socially awkward asari who probably doesn't know what a real relationship is, and a quarian who's not past her Pilgrimage. They're probably able to look past your face."

"Cheers, Wrex."

"Besides," he continues, ignoring me, "I didn't say they were both after you."

I fold my arms, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, Wrex, don't be coy. You're the last person I'd expect that from. What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not being coy," he growls. "Krogan can appreciate dramatic effect too, you know." Well, that's me told. "I think Liara has an interest in you…but you're more interested in the quarian, aren't you?" God, my fingernails are probably shredded by now… "I knew it!" he laughs, presumably making his judgement from my expression and body language. His laugh causes Garrus look over, but I don't think the turian's got the gist of the conversation. Thank Christ.

"Wrex, you're jumping to conclusions…"

"You're the one lecturing me about being coy," he chuckles. "Don't lie to yourself, Ian. I was right about the turian and Shepard, and you didn't believe me straight away there. Don't make the same mistake now."

"That was different!" I protest. "This is me we're talking about!" I'm furiously denying it, getting all uncomfortable…because I think I know he's right.

He sighs. "I don't see what it is with you other species and getting all defensive about the subject. If you really love her, then you should make that clear, even if she's not your species. Don't mess around with it like some bloody turian." He glares over at Garrus. "Step up your game, Ian. 'Break out the l word', as you humans say." He does the air-quotes and everything. Now he's said that, though, I just can't resist…

"Lesbian?"

He frowns. "The other l word."

"Lesbians?"

Wrex growls, throwing his hands up in the air. "Don't be an idiot, Ian, you know exactly what I'm talking about." He's right, since I completely do. I've always found Tali attractive, loved how she can be so badass in battle then reduced to a stammering wreck in conversations. I love her personality, how she rarely gets angry, always seems happy to talk. I don't know what's under her mask, but frankly I don't care. That's not what I'm interested in. Even if we couldn't be like a conventional couple, if she couldn't take the mask off…that's not the point. Ned and Chuck from _Pushing Daises _managed an unconventional relationship, and I think I can too.

Besides, touching Tali won't exactly kill her. So I've got one over the pie-maker already.

Then again, am I really ready for a relationship around here? Maybe Tali's happy with a friendship, she'll turn me down, and I'll ruin what we already have. Rejection is a pretty scary prospect… and is it even right for me to do that, with all my knowledge of this universe? Rebecca only died recently as well…it's been a long time since she got taken, but it wasn't long since I found she was dead. Is it right to move on that quick? I don't want to be stuck in the past, but the thought makes me a little guilty. More than a little, actually. Argh, so many conflicting thoughts!

"Maybe you're right," I admit. "I don't know. What about Liara, anyway? I can swear to you, I'm only thinking of friendship there."

"Well, she's not," he says bluntly. "Trust me."

Actually, all Wrex's relationship analysing has been bugging me slightly… "No offence, mate, but what makes you such a romantic expert?"

"Being leader of a clan gets you a lot of attention," he explains. "I've become pretty good at interpreting signals." _Oh…_I bet he has. "Mercenary work took me all over the galaxy, I've seen my fair share of romance going on around me. Plus I'm older than you'll ever dream of being, so experience from that as well." True that. "If you're going to be honest with yourself, you should be honest with them. Make it clear to her you're not interested."

"All of that's a lot easier said than done, Wrex," I point out. "I mean, if Liara really is interested…she's not going to take rejection with a smile, if you know what I mean. I'm still questioning the wisdom of taking relationship advice from a krogan, anyway."

Wrex chuckles. "You're annoyed because you know I'm right." He is right, I've got to say. He's frustratingly wise. "She deserves to know. Hell, they both do. Do you want to wait two years or so to make your move?"

"Of course not," I laugh. "That would be stupid."

"Exactly," he nods. "Now sort your life out. Take my advice. There's nothing else I can do now, and I'm busy."

I glance around at the sparse area around us. "Doing what?"

"Resting," he growls. "And I don't like being interrupted. Shepard's taking us to a mission of importance to me. I don't exactly like asking for help…but she's getting my family armour back. It's a prized heirloom, and I owe her."

"Didn't have you down as the sentimental type," I point out. Wrex just glares back, but there's a small smile on the edges of his scaly mouth. "She's pretty trustworthy, helping people out like that."

"Yeah," he shrugs. "I might not agree with her decisions all the time, but she's a good commander. Now go on, get out of here. The turian keeps looking over, I think he's afraid I'm stealing you."

I chuckle, glancing over at Garrus who quickly looks away when he sees I'm looking at him. "Right you are. Talk to you later, Wrex." He nods in response, as his eyes begin roving around the garage again. I really hope we do get to talk again. I'm feeling pretty damn worried about this whole thing…but at least I'm slightly prepared. Besides, walking around the ship panicking probably won't help matters.

Though the whole Tali and Liara thing has given me plenty to panic about. I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of looking to romance her, even if that's a rather crude way of putting it.

* * *

"Still bored with no Mako to calibrate, mate?" I ask casually, wandering over and leaning against the railing Garrus is on.

"It wouldn't be a problem if you didn't insist on destroying them," he shoots back, grinning. "Feros, the geth shoot us. Fine. But using it as a bridge? It probably could have jumped the distance!"

I shrug. "But where's the fun in that, right? Besides, that wasn't a risk we were willing to take."

"But building a bridge over lava out of something with highly flammable fuel in was?"

"You have no sense of adventure," I sigh. "Shepard'll probably be getting another one anyway, since I doubt anyone on Virmire'll be lending us one. Not from the sounds of that distress call, anyway."

"That call has me worried," Garrus says, tone sounding concerned. "I've got this feeling about it. With all the other missions, at least we've been slightly prepared…but we don't know what this is. And if a STG team is having trouble, that's not making me confident."

I nod, actually a little surprised. Garrus has a concern as well? Maybe we've got shared instincts or some shit…that'd be weird, but actually kind of cool. If it really happens. "Well, you're not the only one," I mutter. "I'm getting a little freaked out about it as well. Generally, our instincts aren't bad, are they?"

The turian shakes his head. "No. They weren't at C-Sec anyway." Talking about instincts like that makes me think ahead to Garrus and Omega…and how much he blames himself after that. Hell, I haven't even decided if I'm going there with him yet! Omega's not exactly high on my list of holiday destinations…but someone's got to keep an eye on Garrus. "It's probably nothing. How's Liara?"

"I didn't know you cared," I chuckle. "No idea. Her door's locked, and I don't really want to intrude. Why'd you ask me?"

"She doesn't really talk to many people around here," he shrugs. "You and Shepard seem to go and talk to people the most, so I thought you might know." Valid reason, I suppose… "Speaking of Shepard, actually, there's something I think you should know."

Oh? "What's that?"

"That the answer's yes," he says. I give him an odd look. Yes to wh…_ohhh. _"What you asked me on Noveria. I've had feelings for her for a while...but you mentioning it made me realise how much I do." I almost feel like punching the air. Yay, Garrus loves Shepard! And it may be mutual! The shipper in me is so happy right now! "I'm not sure what to do about it, though. I mean, it's an Alliance ship, so they probably won't be keen on that in the first place…"

"Won't be keen is putting it a bit lightly," I chuckle. "Especially from Ash's point of view. But hey, good for you, man!"

He gives me a funny look. "Good for me? I thought you'd be surprised by a human and turian couple…"

"You two suit each other," I grin. "Just don't give me the intimate details, and it's all good."

"Well, we're not together yet, are we?" Garrus mutters, a little darkly. "I'm not sure about acting on my feelings about this. I mean, I care for her, but it's not good for the mission if I do and then there'll probably be some kind of scandal, which I don't want for her…" I watch the turian babbling away nervously in front of me, and smile. It's actually kind of heartwarming, because it shows he really does care. And I am totally. Hooking. Them. Up.

"Garrus," I say sternly, stopping him mid-ramble. "If you really want a relationship with her, you can't worry about that."

He shakes his head. "I know, but still. I just want something…simple."

"Nothing simple about love," I chuckle. "According to Wrex, anyway. Well, if you're answering the question I asked you on Noveria…I should be honest with you as well."

He cocks his head to the side slightly. "About Tali?"

"Yeah," I say quietly, looking around to make sure she's not behind me or something. That would be _awkward…_ "The answer's yes. I think I've got feelings for her. I just don't know what to do about it."

"You hypocrite," he chuckles. "Giving me all this advice about acting on it, then worrying yourself about her. And you think you've got feelings for her?"

"I know I've got feelings for her," I sigh. He's not making this easy, is he? Despite what I'd like, it's really not as easy as just walking through into engineering and asking Tali for a date. We're good friends, no doubt about it…but maybe it's too early to date. Hell, maybe she'll just say no anyway. It's weird how we can face down armies of geth, yet the prospect of romance reduces Garrus and I to panic… "I just don't know, though. I mean, she might not be interested, then I'm worried I'm moving on too quick…"

Garrus shakes his head. "You can judge whether you've got some spark with her, and I can't tell you if you're moving on too quick. But you've got to at some point, if you're ready. The fact you're even thinking about this kind of hints you might be." He does have a point there… "I'm almost surprised you're thinking of Tali, though."

"Why?"

"I thought you were more into turians," he grins. "Remember back at C-Sec, when we were scoping out that salarian red sand dealer? You said it back there." Oh, come on…

I gawp at him. "How do you remember that shit? It was two bloody years ago! And I didn't say that!"

"You insinuated it," he shrugs. Oh, he's finding this _too _much fun…

"I don't have a fetish for turians, Garrus!" I shoot back, a little loudly. "So stop asking!"

"I'm sorry," I hear a familiar voice say behind us, and both Garrus and I swivel around to see Shepard looking at us, one eyebrow raised an awkward smile on her face. "Am I interrupting something?" Oh shit, that's literally the worst time for her to come into the conversation…

We both shake our heads frantically. Embarassing... "That really wasn't what it sounded like, Shepard," I say quickly.

"I'm sure it wasn't," she chuckles. I'm supposed to be helping her and Garrus hook up, not say stupid stuff like that while she's around! Damn! "I came down here to…well, apologise, I guess."

I raise an eyebrow, and Garrus's mandibles widen in surprise. "Apologise for what?"

"Snapping at you back on Noveria," Shepard replies. "I think I owe you an explanation as well, about what's been bothering me. Has Garrus mentioned anything to you about it?"

"Nope," I shake my head. "Should he have?"

Shepard smiles a little, looking over at Garrus. "No, I told him some stuff before we left for Noveria that this is related to. I told him to keep it a secret, but I thought he might share it with you. Still, thanks Garrus."

"No problem," the turian says awkwardly, smiling back. Oh God, now he's admitted to having feelings for her he's gonna be all over the fucking place…it's like Mass Effect 2 all over again.

"You probably don't know much about my family, so I'll keep it brief," she explains. "My parents have been in the Alliance almost all their lives, I was pretty much born into the role. It was quite nice as a child, travelling around in all the different ships with them…but when I left to train, the Alliance split them back up to serve on different ships. Even though they were married." Wait, 'were'? Oh shit, I think I see what's coming here…

"I haven't really seen much of them since then, the odd trip…but I know they've been growing apart a lot," she continues, sadness creeping into her tone now. "Arguments and stuff, probably from being apart so long. I thought they'd get over the most recent one, but…but they've divorced."

As soon as she spoke about their relationship in the past tense, I knew it was coming. But damn, that's a shock…and really sad for Shepard. It's not something I ever experienced, parents splitting, but it's really not something I wanted to think about. Can't be easy for her, at all. It's really weird to see Shepard like this as well, sad, showing her more human side. I'd always thought of her as…invincible, I guess.

"Shepard, I didn't know…you don't have to apologise for Noveria, you know," I say. "It's perfectly understandable what you did, all things considered."

She smiles slightly, but shakes her head. "Thanks. But it was still wrong. I'm just supposed to be this invincible Spectre, you know? Hunting down Saren, all the missions…it makes me forget about family and everything. Then I hear about this, and it brings me straight back down to earth. Maybe I should have spent more time with them, looked at family more instead of the job…"

"It's not your fault, Shepard," Garrus reassures her. "It wasn't the angry kind of divorce, was it?" For fuck's sake, Garrus, that's a little insensitive…

"No, mutual thing," Shepard says quietly. Well, at least she didn't seem to mind. "They just decided the relationship couldn't work from that far away. It's almost worse that they both want it, gives me nobody to be blame or be angry at," she chuckles humourlessly. "It's just weird to think about. I always had this happy idea they'd be together for the rest of their lives, that we'd all go and visit each other at Christmas or some clichéd shit like that…and then this happens."

"From the sounds of it, they're happier this way, though," I point out. "I know it might not be what you want to hear, but maybe it's best for them? If it's what they want?"

She shakes her head. "Maybe. It's just a shock, that's all."

"There's this quote I remember," I say, "A woman called Helen Rowland said it. 'When two people decide to get a divorce, it isn't a sign that they don't understand one another, but a sign that, at last, they have begun to'."

"Way to lighten the tone," she chuckles, but this time there is some life behind it. "I thought you deserved an explanation, anyway. I'm over it now." Really, Shepard? Because from what I can see, she isn't… "I don't know if Wrex has told either of you about the mission to get his family armour? We're headed there now."

"If you need us, we're ready," I say firmly.

"Thanks, Ian, but I think you should sit this one out," she replies. "You've been on the last three missions, and you should take a rest. Whether you think you need one or not. Garrus, you're coming, though, along with Ash, Kaidan and Wrex, obviously." She's taking Ash? Damn, I wanted to talk to her before Virmire…I'll just have to do it when she gets back. And try not to break down while talking. Though hold on, does this leave me on the ship with just Tali and Liara? After that conversation I just had with Wrex? Why is my life like a fucking bad sitcom? "I'll see you both later, but Garrus, you'd best start getting ready." With that, she turns on her heel and strides back towards the elevator.

"Do you think she's really alright?" Garrus asks me quietly as she leaves. Does he even need to ask?

I shake my head. "There's no way she's as over it as she claims. Go and talk to her, she'd appreciate that." He frowns. "She likes your company, Garrus, even if you don't want romance," I point out. "Talk it through with her."

"I suppose you're right," he sighs, stepping out towards the elevator.

"You know you love it," I grin. He just rolls his eyes at me, then hurries to the elevator door, sticking a talon out to catch them as they close. I see Shepard say something to him, he replies…wait, is she crying? Oh, shit, she really isn't taking it well…finally, as the elevator doors start to close, she suddenly steps forwards and flings her arms around his neck, just hugging him. I manage to catch the look of shock on Garrus's face…then they're gone.

Maybe there's not a romance just yet. But they're damn good friends. And you can't ask for much more than that.

**A/N: Wow, these chapters keep getting longer and longer! Kind of got carried away with myself there in all the conversations, but hey, a lot to talk about! Romance is serious business!**

**So, next chapter there's talking to Tali and Liara, probably Ash too when she gets back. And no, it won't be a case of Tali and Ian magically hooking up next chapter. There's something called **_**build-up.**_** If the relationship is even happening at all ;-).**

**And then, Virmire. It's coming up, and Ian has a plan. Whether or not it will come together in A-Team fashion remains to be seen.**

**Also…600 reviews? I would individually hug every one of you, if:  
****It didn't incur massive travel costs.  
****It wasn't weird.**

**So you'll just have to make do with a thank you instead.**

**Thank you.**

**Yes, you.**

**It also means that, as a series, Masses to Masses has 1,000 reviews. So thank you all for reading, reviewing, and making this such a joy to write.**

**Alright, until next chapter!**


	28. Ian vs The Paste

Chapter 28

Phoenix: Lisztomania

We have a serious damn problem.

Bigger than the Reapers, Saren, and the rest of what lies in wait for us.

We're all out of damn ice cream.

I scrape the bottom of the tub despondently with a spoon, to absolutely no avail. For God's sake, I just bought some when we were back on the Citadel! From my own money! I don't mind sharing if people ask…but it's all gone, and I've only had about two spoonfuls of it since I bought it. Plus, the bastard stealing it put the tub back into the fridge empty. That's just fucking _rude._

I lob the tub into the rubbish compactor, sighing to myself as I settle down at the table in the mess hall by myself, cheese sandwich in front of me, no condiments, and bottle of juice just to my right. We've got an industrial amount of mayonnaise around here, but I hate the stuff. Now there's nothing for dessert, which _sucks. _I mean, it's lunchtime, but as far as I'm concerned ice-cream can and should be eaten with every meal. Now some bandit's stolen it.

Worrying about ice-cream is a hell of a lot better than worrying about the situation facing me, though. I take a bite out of the sandwich, leaning back in the chair and glancing around. The faint hum of the ship and all the machinery about are my only company, everyone else either up in the CIC or out on Wrex's mission. Except Liara and Tali…which is exactly why I'm up here, by myself.

Damn Wrex. Making me all paranoid. Well, more than usual. Virmire's got me stressing out already…and I find myself habitually picking apart my plan every time I think about it. Shepard could easily just say no at the time, we could get spread too thin and get nuked...

Stop thinking about it! I frown slightly, staring really damn hard at my sandwich to try and take my mind off things. Now Wrex has brought up romance in relation to Tali and Liara, it suddenly feels really awkward to talk to either of them. Worry that Liara's interested in me, and the knowledge I've got feelings for Tali. It's not that I haven't had girlfriends before…but I was confident around Rebecca. No such luck with Tali. I want to talk to her…but every time I think about doing it, Wrex's words spring back into my mind and I get hella nervous.

Great, the krogan's totally killed my banter with her. Plus I'll be examining every word Liara says for some kind of romantic undertone thanks to that bastard krogan. Getting nervous about Tali is just a side effect of how serious I'm getting about this, most likely…I haven't really felt this way before. Worrying about every word I say to her, in case I say the wrong thing.

I take another bite of the sandwich, chewing slowly as I lean back into the seat and stare up at the ceiling. I'm probably overdoing things…but I'm still feeling a little guilty about thinking of moving on so soon after Rebecca. Plus, I _really _don't want to cock up what I already have with Tali. Rejection is a scary prospect. Then again, I'm not going to get anywhere by not pursuing it.

"It's too bloody complex," I mutter to myself absent-mindedly.

"What is?" Tali asks, causing me to jump in surprise, knocking my chair over backwards with me on it, making me choke slightly on the half-eaten bit of sandwich still in my mouth. Shit! Where the _fuck _did she come from?

"What the hell?" I finally manage to splutter. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

The quarian's body language shows shock as she looks down at me. "Keelah, I didn't expect you to react like that! Are you alright?" I look up at the quarian…and can't help but laugh at how absurd the situation is. I was worried about how to start a conversation, and it turns out falling off a chair and choking on a cheese sandwich is the best way to do it. Aw, fuck nervousness around Tali. We're friends, I can talk to her. Just because I'm developing feelings for her doesn't mean we can't talk like we normally do. Tali joins in laughing as well, as I clamber back up to my feet.

"I'm fine," I chuckle. "Just gave me a hell of a shock, that's all. What're you doing up here, except trying to scare me?"

She walks over to the kitchen area, talking as she goes. "I was hungry. Besides, you hadn't come to see me like you normally do." Crap, she noticed I was avoiding her…think of an excuse!

"I've kinda had a lot on," I say vaguely. Nice, Ian. "I just fancied something to eat before I came down to see you." I feel a little bad about lying…but then again, I'm hardly going to say 'actually, I'm avoiding you to avoid my feelings'. But hey, at least we've got some banter going now.

Tali seems convinced enough by it, body language becoming a bit more relaxed as she pulls…something out of the cupboard and sighs. "Nice someone around here looks forward to eating."

I turn on the chair to face her, and look at the paste the Alliance thinks passes as dextro-amino food. "What happened to those supplies Garrus got in for you two?"

"Gone," she shrugs. "They were nice while they lasted, but it makes it worse to go back to this stuff. I mean, at least the Alliance are giving us something, but it's a long way from good quarian food."

"I can imagine," I chuckle, as she takes her food over to the table and sits down next to me. Her arm brushes against mine as she sits down, but I pretend not to have noticed. Hell, she almost certainly didn't, thanks to the exo-suit… "The dextro-amino stuff Garrus used to eat when we were on the Citadel smelled nice. Looked good as well. I mean, turian and quarian food is probably different…but I'm fairly sure it's not supposed to look like that."

Tali shakes her head. "They give us some refined edible paste when we leave for Pilgrimage, but I ran out of that a while ago. The next best thing is specially purified turian food…but there's not much of that going around. What have you got?"

"Cheese sandwich. Want to try a little bit?" She shakes her head furiously. Whoops…

"Levo stuff is almost inedible," Tali laughs. "Beside, you'd have to make it into a paste or something for me to try some, if I even wanted to. What did you mean, Garrus's food smelled nice? Is dextro stuff okay for you?"

"It'll give me a reaction…but I've had little bits of turian food before and it's surprisingly nice," I admit. "Well, unless I accidentally ate too much and started throwing up." I know Garrus and Tali don't like the dextro stuff the Alliance put on, but I'm still a little curious as to whether it tastes as bad as it looks… "This might sound weird, but you don't mind if I try a bit of yours, do you?"

She shakes her head. "Go ahead. Don't have too much, though, I don't want to have to carry you over to the med-bay. Once out of Therum was enough." Ooh, low blow…I reach over and spoon up a tiny bit of the paste, then pop it into my mouth before I can change my mind. It's oddly chewy, doesn't taste like much…oh, wait, something's coming through…oh shit, that's horrible!

I spit it out almost straight away, coughing and reaching for my sandwich to try and get rid of the taste while Tali starts laughing next to me. Christ, that tastes like rancid coleslaw! I don't even like _normal _coleslaw! That made my chest hurt, it was so bad!

"Does it compare to turian food?" she asks, still laughing away.

"That shit should be _illegal!_" I reply, then start chugging my juice to try and get rid of the taste. "Does that taste as bad for you as it does for me?"

The quarian leans back in the chair, food seemingly forgotten. "It's not nice, but you've probably got it worse. You trying Garrus's food, though…what was it like living with him?" I open my mouth, answer formed, but Tali suddenly starts talking again. "Actually, what was life like for you before the Normandy?"

I'm a little taken aback, and slightly worried. Generally I try to steer clear of my past, since that opens me up to a lot of risk… "What, you mean C-Sec?"

"I mean, where you came from, what brought you to the Citadel? You know all about me and the Flotilla, but I know just about nothing about you." Wow, thanks Tali! Putting me in the most awkward position possible…I can't tell the full truth…but then again I don't want to lie outright. Hell, I'll tell her everything I can. She deserves to know, after all, especially after everything she's shared with me. Just skip out being taken from 2010, and we should be good.

"There's not that much to tell," I say, leaning back in the chair and casting my mind back. I'm not lying there, either. "I grew up like a normal Earth kid. Born in Scotland, moved down to the North-East of England when I was really young, which is why I don't have the accent." I'm trying to think of interesting stories from when I was younger…but come up with nothing. I guess everything with C-Sec and now puts 'interesting' into perspective. "Went to school, hung around with mates, did athletics Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Don't get me wrong, I had fun…it was just unremarkable, that's all."

"So, what brought you to the Citadel?" Tali asks, leaning forward slightly, both of us completely ignoring food now. Quarians like storytelling, if I remember the culture rightly… "Did you want to get away from Earth?"

I shake my head ruefully. "Not exactly." Can't really tell the truth here, so I'll have to fall back on my backstory. God, I feel like such a prick for doing it…but no other way. "I didn't exactly have a reason to leave Earth, as much as I'd like to have had some fascinating reason about escaping my family, or some clichéd shit like that. I always did well at school, so I got into university on Earth and studied law. I thought about becoming a lawyer, but for some reason office life didn't seem like the kind of thing I was cut out for."

"Good call," Tali laughs, gesturing around the Normandy. "I can hardly see you in an office, after everything that's happened here."

"Thanks," I grin, finding it slightly ironic that if Shiara hadn't taken me, I probably _would _have ended up in a desk job. "Anyway, I thought about making a direct difference, law enforcement. But I've always been interested in alien culture." That's true, I suppose…if the Mass Effect alien races had been around in 2010, I'd have been off to the Citadel without a second thought. Along with all the other Mass Effect fans, I imagine.

"Did you not see many other species on Earth?" Tali asks. God, we're straying into awkward territory here…since the right answer is probably yes, given that some aliens have got to visit Earth. Right? Man, it sucks I've got to think on my feet like this rather than just telling the whole truth.

I shake my head, settling for a compromise. "Not many, especially where I lived. We were close to a city, but the town I lived in was pretty small. Saw the odd turian, but nothing more than that. Anyway, I was interested in law enforcement, and alien cultures. There was only ever going to be one place for me."

"C-Sec," Tali says triumphantly.

"Bingo," I smile. "Seemed like the only logical choice. Finished my degree, put in a job application, got accepted. Pallin wasn't too pleased about it at first, since I was filling in a Council requirement for a human detective…but we got over that fairly quick. Got partnered with Garrus, and the rest, as they say, is history."

"You're not going to tell me about C-Sec?" Tali asks, genuine interest in her voice.

I laugh and lean back in the seat, shaking my head. "No, not today. It's long as hell, and I probably couldn't do it justice without Garrus filling in the stuff I miss. If I can get him for a while after the next mission, we can tell you all about it then. Skip out all the boring stuff, of course. A lot of it was just filling in paperwork. We only got to kick ass and take names about once a month."

"I look forward to it," the quarian replies. "If you can actually get Garrus by himself. He's always talking to Shepard about something or other."

"You know," I say slyly, leaning in conspiratorially, "there's a theory going around they're romantically involved."

"I picked up on that much," she comments dryly. "It's funny, watching him around her. He gets so…nervous."

I laugh, thinking about the bumbling turian…I wonder if he's pulled the heat sink line yet. "Aye, it's funny. He's not normally like that. Then again, love can make people really nervous."

Did I just say that out loud? Shit! I take a look at Tali's body language…but she hasn't reacted to it. Man, I'm paranoid.

"I…suppose so," Tali agrees. "Where are we going for the next mission? Virmire?"

"Yeah," I nod, thoughts drifting to that place…it would actually make a nice holiday destination, if it weren't for the massive amounts of geth. And the fact we're going to set a massive bloody nuke off on it. "It never ends, does it?"

"We must be getting close," she replies. Not what I mean, Tali…I'm thinking about _everything _ahead, Mass Effect 2 events. It's a long road ahead. If I make it that far. Ugh, that was morbid. "Everything's coming together, with the Mu Relay co-ordinates we found on Noveria. It's got me thinking about what I'm going to do after this is over, actually. Everything with Saren."

That makes me sit up slightly, as I consider my future. Hell, what am I going to do? There's Garrus and Omega…but frankly, I'm not too comfortable condoning vigilante justice. Plus it might lead to the return of Renegarrus, and I'm not sure I want to be a part of that. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, provided I complete my Pilgrimage, I'll return to the Flotilla," she explains. "While wandering the galaxy would be nice…my people need me. Everyone on the Flotilla needs to work together, so there's no room for that."

"You sound disappointed," I point out.

"I'm not, I didn't mean for it to sound like that," she replies quickly. "I want to go back. Completing the Pilgrimage is important to me, and I have a duty to my people I can't just ignore. What about you, Ian? What are you thinking of doing?"

I lean back in the chair, thinking. 'Wait two years,' isn't much of an answer…and she's right, I need _something. _"Probably go back to C-Sec," I finally say. "See what Garrus is thinking of doing."

"I'm surprised," she admits. "I thought you'd have stuck with the Alliance."

You and Kaidan both, it would seem. "I prefer C-Sec. I don't think I could do the constant travel, orders and rank…I mean, obviously there's rules and rank at C-Sec, but at least we're given a bit of freedom in how to approach an investigation. Plus, the clothes people in the Alliance wear are as uncomfortable as hell. C-Sec lets me where just about whatever I want, perks of being a detective."

"You're basing your future job choice on what they let you wear?"

"What can I say?" I shrug. "I'm a man of simple tastes. It's a shame you're going back to the Flotilla straight away, though…I'd always have liked to get to know the crew a bit better after we're done blowing stuff up."

"I never said straight away," she chuckles. "I'd quite like to get to know you better too. The rest of the crew as well." That sounded borderline flirtatious! Unless I'm reading too much into it.

I'm probably reading too much into it. Damn.

"Do you know what we're expecting on Virmire?" Tali suddenly asks. "Did Shepard mention anything to you?"

"Nope, no idea," I lie. "But…I'm getting a bad feeling about it. Everything's gone flawless so far, but our luck's got to run out some time. That's how I see it, anyway."

Tali shakes her head. "Shepard doesn't operate off luck. It's probably pre-mission nerves." She's right…damn, I can't freakin' warn her! What if something goes wrong? What if Tali's the one to arm the nuke, and we can't make it to save her or something?

"Just be careful out there, alright?" I say softly. It's pathetic, but it's all I can say. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this one, and I don't want to lose a friend out there. Especially one as good as you."  
"You're normally the one playing the hero," Tali laughs. "But I will. And same to you too. Try to come back in one piece."  
"That's generally a good tactic in warfare," I point out. We're left in silence. But not the awkward kind. She's looking straight at me, I'm looking straight at her…should I say something? Make my feelings known, with the risk of everything coming up? But before I can hint at things any further, she starts talking again.

"Have you seen Liara after what happened on Noveria?" Damn, that's the moment gone. But at least it's a start. "She went straight back to her room after the debrief."

I shake my head glumly. "No. I tried to check on her earlier, but the door was locked. Maybe I should give it another shot."

"Good idea," Tali nods, rising to her feet. "They're probably missing me down in Engineering, anyway. I'll talk to you later, Ian." She starts to walk away, then suddenly stops and turns to face me, looking slightly sheepish. "This was really nice. It's good having someone to talk to."

"Same here," I reply, a little surprised. Maybe it's not just me… "Anytime, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tali nods, chuckling a little bit. "Anytime." With that, she's gone, heading around the corner to the elevator and leaving me alone once again. Well…that's certainly given me food for thought. Though it's not exactly cleared anything up feelings wise. The ambiguity is killing me…and I'm feeling nervous as I approach Liara's door. Wrex was spot on about me and Tali, but I'm praying he's wrong about Liara.

Because if he's not…awkward. That's all I'm saying.

* * *

The door panel is green once I reach it, but I knock anyway out of courtesy. There's a muffle shout of 'come in!' from behind it, and the doors slide open in front of me. Liara's sitting in her usual place, but doesn't seem to be working like she normal. Instead, she's looking at me, obviously trying to maintain some kind of composure but not doing a good job. At all. Poor girl.

"Just checking up on you," I smile reassuringly, heading across and leaning against the wall as she looks up at me from her chair. "We haven't really talked after Noveria, and…well, you know me. I like to talk to everyone." She nods absent-mindedly…but doesn't seem to get at all I'm hinting that she can talk about her feelings if she wants. Of course she doesn't. It's Liara. "How're you holding up? After Noveria, and your mother…"

"That thing Saren created wasn't my mother," she suddenly interrupts, real fury in her voice. "It looked like her, had her voice…but it wasn't her." The asari's hands are clenched tightly as she talks, something I've never seen from her before. God, she doesn't seem sad…she seems angry. Oh no, not Mass Effect 2 Liara already!

I shake my head lightly. "Indoctrination is powerful. But Benezia was still there underneath it all, Liara, even if she could only take control temporarily. She was proud of you. Went to her death knowing it was the only way."

"I know," she says darkly. "But it was Saren who made her into that. Who made death her only choice. I have never really felt hatred before, a desire for revenge…but now I understand it." Shit, that's creepy. And not like her. She isn't becoming a bitch on my watch!

"It's not about revenge, Liara. That kind of thing can consume you. Hate Saren, sure, but don't let payback be your sole motivation. It's not like you. It's not what Benezia would have wanted."

"And how would you know that?" Liara shouts back, rising up out of her chair and looking at me furiously. "She was not your mother! You have no idea!"

Ahhh! I raise my hands apologetically, backing up slightly. "Sorry! But this isn't like you!" That doesn't do much to calm her. I just don't know when to quit, do I? But this isn't about her getting pissed of now, this about her in the future. Maybe I can't stop her becoming fuelled by anger like in ME2. But I can at least postpone it. "You're normally calm, a bit naïve maybe, but happy! Benezia said she was proud of you as you were, not like this!"

Liara opens her mouth to shout something back…but then stops, anger dimming slightly as she thinks about what I said. "Maybe…maybe you're right," she sighs, sinking back into her chair. I breathe a massive sigh of relief, since I was half-expecting to get biotically blasted through a wall. "I just don't know. After seeing what she became…I need vengeance."

"I'm not saying you should just ignore it," I reply. "God knows we've all got reason to hate Saren. Just don't let it drive you, alright? You're too nice a person."

"Thank you," she laughs, albeit a little humourlessly. "I shan't let a desire for revenge change me, then. But I have a desire to fight now beyond finding Benezia. When we find Saren…"

"I'm not sure I want to know the details," I interject, thinking of Ilium and threats of 'flaying people' with her mind. I don't even want to know what that entails. The anger in Liara's expression finally dies…and instead is replaced with grief. That's the Liara I know.

She shakes her head slowly, looking at the floor. "I just wanted to talk to her a bit more, you know…I hadn't seen her for a long time, and we had things we should have caught up on…it just came too suddenly."

"We all wish we could spend longer with people we love," I say softly. "But everyone has to go at some point. It was her time. Benezia knew it was her time to… 'embrace the goddess'?" Liara nods. "She died calmly, and she was proud of you. She got her closure, and you should have got yours. Would you rather have stayed back on the ship and found out after we got back?"

"That is a good point," Liara admits. "No, I would not. Mother died willingly…and I need to accept that. She's gone, and revenge will not bring her back." Her voice starts to waver slightly, and eyes moisten as the reality hits her. I shouldn't feel relieved she's crying…but it's a hell of a lot better than setting herself upon revenge. That said, I should probably leave her to deal with it. I slowly get up from the wall, but suddenly she gets up out of her chair and looks at me, tears still there but composure regained enough to talk.

"Thank you, Ian," she smiles. "For talking to me. I had all these conflicting feelings, and…you helped. A lot."

I wave it away casually with a hand. "Ah, don't mention it. I've had my fair share of grief, didn't want you to go down the same roads I did." The month after Rebecca got taken…that wasn't good for me or Garrus. I owe him for talking me out of that. Plus, this puts off Liara getting angry…speaking of the asari, she suddenly takes two quick steps forward and hugs me, wrapping her arms around my back and leaving me standing dumbfounded in the room.

She doesn't even say anything, just hugs me. My first instinct is to push her away or something, make it clear whatever feelings she might have for me aren't mutual like Wrex suggested…but after everything with her mother, it'd take some heartless bastard to do that. So instead, I weakly return the favour, and after what feels like an eternity she finally breaks it off, tears still in her eyes but smiling at me, saying nothing.

It's tempting to sprint out of the room, but instead I walk slowly out, mind whirling with thoughts as the door slides shut behind me. Great, now I'm in _way _over my head. Making it clear that I'm not interested in that environment would have been the biggest dick move ever, but now I'm leading her on, in a way. Neither is exactly good. Plus, there's an inordinate amount of hugging going on around the ship today. First Shepard to Garrus, now Liara to me. Bloody ridiculous.

I settle back down at the mess table, where my half eaten cheese sandwich is still lying in wait, probably feeling a little pissed off I ditched it like that. I take a bite, lean back in the seat, then quickly check Tali's not hiding somewhere to scare the shit out of me again. Love triangles suck.

Next time I talk to Liara, I need to make it obvious. Not directly go up to her and say 'sorry, not interested', but just hint at me and Tali to take her off it. If that even works. It's still a rejection, which no-one takes well…and I already caught a glimpse of bitch Liara a few minutes ago. Her rocket biotic uppercut is still fresh in my mind from Noveria, and frankly I'd rather not experience it first hand. As Ramona Flowers said, 'No breakup is painless, someone always get hurt.' Admittedly Liara and I aren't dating, but the point still stands.

If I'm going to hint that I'm already in a relationship, though, I need to talk to Tali frankly. No more dodging around, I need to say _something _about it to her. Ask her on a date, though I'm not exactly sure where we'd go…Citadel? We'll be going back there anyway, after Virmire, so maybe then…

Fuck, I'm getting ahead of myself. Tali may very well say no, or Liara might have killed me by then. The latter is unlikely, but the former entirely possible. Still, I have to ask to get a yes.

I shouldn't even worry about them now! Virmire's coming up, and I need to be focused on the rescue, not romance. The plan's in place, however flawed it might be…and I've got to stick to it. No distractions, complete focus. The stakes are way too damn high. I finish off the sandwich, grabbing my plate along with the one Tali left behind, scraping the crumbs and almost all of the paste into the rubbish compactor and loading the dishwasher. I love future dishwashers. The clean the stuff, and dry it too! Ah, the things in life.

I head towards the elevator, opening up my omni-tool and starting a diagnostic off. My hack module's a little outdated, so I might look up some mods on the extranet. Probably not strictly legal, but serving on the Normandy gives one a pretty high clearance. Just before I get into the lift, however, an announcement comes through over the ship's intercom.

"_Commander Shepard is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved_." God, I hate that VI's voice…but Shepard's back, all being well with Wrex's armour. So this is it. Virmire's up next. I press the button to descend into the garage, butterflies in my stomach as I think about what's in wait ahead. My plan is clear, and I've ran through what I remember of the mission countless times in my head. I have one priority.

Don't fuck it up.

**A/N: Well, you heard it. Virmire's up next. There'll be some talking with Ash at the start of the chapter, so don't worry, Ms. Williams will still feature. From there on…well, everyone knows Virmire. It needs no introduction. **

**Sorry this took so long, by the way. I had my chapter of Recreation to write, then coursework and stuff piled up in a rather horrible fashion. But, in order to let you all know what's going on update wise, I've started updating my profile in Ryan PM fashion every day or two to let you all know how I'm getting on with writing, ideas of when to expect the next chapter, if homework's catching up on me etc. So if anyone's interested, there it is.**

**Everyone have a nice day, and I'll see you next chapter!**


	29. Ian vs The Remote Control

Chapter 29

Stereophonics: Dakota

I can see why Garrus does calibrations. They have a brilliant way of taking your mind off things.

I open up part of my pistol, checking the cooling system with my omni-tool as the other lies ready to go next to me. Completely unnecessary tests, but I'd rather do this than wander around the ship worrying about the mission up ahead. I'd really like to be confident…but the cynical bit of me is being, well, cynical. Which shouldn't be too surprising, but I'm fretting slightly because of it.

And now my mind's back on the mission. Good job, Ian. I snap the pistol shut again, closing up my omni-tool with new, semi-legal hack module uploaded. Right, that's it. I'm resolving not to think about it. As much as I'd like to plan ahead, it's inevitable that whatever plan I have will be smashed to pieces by countless factors outside of my control, and I'll just have to wing it like I normally do. That's not cynicism, that's fact. Caltan Xenvalis, the infiltration into that merc group's HQ, sneaking up on those Varren, necromorphs blowing my idea of opposition away on the Fedele…the list is almost endless. Bluffing and shooting frantically tend to be what I fall back on, and it's worked well so far.

Can't really bluff your way through a romance though…

Fuck! I hate my train of thought! Kill geth now, think later! I'm getting ready to whack my head off a wall to drive the thoughts out when there's a dry chuckle from behind me.

"Something bothering you, Ian?" Ash asks. I look around at her…then realise I've been grimacing the entire time I was thinking away to myself. Whoops. "Calibrating weapons isn't that bad, is it? Especially pistols."

"You'd be surprised," I reply, deciding to take the excuse she's presented to me. Can't exactly say I'm worrying about her dying, and that I've got a plan to avoid that happening which is freaking me out…so her actually suggesting my excuse is a godsend. "The cooldown system has been messing up a bit recently, took a little while to repair. But, got it in the end." I twirl both pistols on my fingers then slide them into the holsters, but Ash doesn't look particularly impressed. Damn. "So, how did the mission with Wrex go?"

Ash sighs slightly, folding her arms and frowning in her trademark fashion. "As well as you can expect. Ride in the Mako to the base they were holding the armour, took down some rookie mercs who should know better than to mess with the Alliance, and got that armour of his back. Krogan didn't even say a damn word when we got it, just a nod to Shepard. Then it was just a ride back to the ship."

Sounds about right…I don't remember the family armour mission being that interesting. When Wrex first mentioned it, I had some idea of a mission on the Citadel, like breaking into Tonn Atcus's place to steal it back, maybe befriending him in a bar then nicking it once he lets you into the place as the Paragon route…but no, just another Mako mission followed by a shootout.

"It's probably a lot more important to him then he likes to let on," I say, knowing fine well it is. Not having to worry about Charm/Intimidate is well worth that mission, though after Noveria I wouldn't be surprised if he was still a little pissed. Now there's something I didn't consider…fuck, nothing I can do about that now. If Wrex gets killed, though…I don't know what I'll do. But it won't be good.

"He could be a little more grateful," she mutters. "We're taking time from our main objectives to help him."

"They don't exactly have a culture like ours," I point out. "No krogan really wants to be in someone's debt for being helped."

Ash shakes her head. "I doubt Shepard sees him in her debt."

"Probably not, but he will, even it seems a little weird to you and me. Alien cultures are fascinating like that. They're similar to us in a lot of ways, but the little things like that…"

"Similar?" she says, grinning. "I don't look like a massive lizard, Ian."

"Don't flatter yourself." Haha, burn!

Ash mockingly raises a fist at me, making me flinch slightly. I'm still on edge after the sparring match with her, though I reckon I actually stand a chance after our combat training now…plus, I'm getting naturally fitter and stronger from all the missions. Just little improvements, but I'm running faster than before, and I'm a fair bit stronger. Not building muscle…just toning it, I assume. "You certainly know how to talk to a woman, Ian," she says sarcastically.

"Didn't have you down as the type who went for flattery and chocolates," I reply. "Sessions at the shooting range and hiking, maybe, but not that."

"You're probably right," she laughs. "If I was even looking for a relationship. Doesn't seem right to me, with a job like this. Maybe after all this over, I mean, retirement, but until then…though you probably don't agree with that."

I raise an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"We've all seen you around Tali, Ian," she smiles. "Personally, I can't understand it, but your call. What kind of type are you, then? Romantically?" Fuck, does _everyone _know? I bet Wrex brought it up in the Mako during his armour mission, the bastard!

"What, are you giving Tali notes on me, or something?" I ask sardonically. "I don't know, really. Not the hiking type…but anything goes, I guess. Leaning towards old-fashioned romantic, taking someone out on a date…but I'm pretty flexible. Aye, I'm flexible."

"That would explain how your head got where it is," Ash comments dryly. Oh, snap! Though I probably deserved it for that crack about her looks.

I laugh, shaking my head. Ah, we get some good banter in around here. All the more reason I can't let my plan fail. "Good one. I'll deal with personal stuff later, but for now we've got the mission. Romance can wait. If anything comes of it at all."

"Good attitude," Ash nods. I knew she of all people would think that… "Focus on staying alive first and foremost." There's the familiar sound of the elevator hitting this floor…as Shepard, Wrex, Garrus and Kaidan step out, all looking at the Mako. Of course, it's a Mako drop to the planet's surface. Well, at least I'm looking forward to it this time, rather than being shit-scared like before Therum. Just like a rollercoaster!

"Looks like this is my cue to leave," I say, rising to my feet and grabbing my sniper rifle on the way up. From what I remember, it's gonna be hella useful. Lots of wide, open spaces on Virmire…paradise for Garrus and I. Well, if paradise had geth shooting at us. "Be careful out there, Ash. I've got a bad feeling about this one."

She shakes her head. "You've always got a bad feeling about something or other." True that. "I'm not actually going on the mission, though." Oh, shit, good point! She doesn't know that we're gonna need more support later on…

"I meant after we're done on the Mako," I backtrack quickly. "If there's a STG team down there in a lot of trouble, we'll probably need more people on the ground."

"Good point," Ash nods. "Well, I'll try and stay alive. Like I always do."

"That's all I can ask," I smile, nodding goodbye to Ash as I see the rest of the squad starting to pour into the Mako. She returns the nod, as I hurry over and stand next to Garrus…who's got his omni-tool open next to the Mako. Really? Just before the mission? Calibrations can wait!

"Garrus, Ian, get in here!" Shepard calls from the driving seat. "We'll be at the drop point any minute now!" Oh, right you are, ma'am! Garrus shuts his omni-tool down with a frown, as I hop in to the tank and strap myself into an empty seat, Garrus taking the one next to me for the drop. Ugh, I'm getting butterflies in my stomach…I guess this is just one of those things where the wait makes you really nervous. Like before an operation. Or a wedding.

STOP THINKING ABOUT ROMANCE RELATED THINGS!

Well, romance things related to _me_, anyway. Garrus is an entirely different matter. Wrex is talking to Kaidan, surprisingly, though from what I can gather it's about the mission, and how Wrex brutally killed Tonn Atcus. Delightful. Shepard's messing around with some controls in the front seat, letting me lean over and whisper to Garrus without anyone hearing. "How was it, then?" I ask, smiling.

"How was what?" he whispers back, though his expression shows he knows fine well what I'm talking about.

"Having Shepard cry on your shoulder after you went to talk to her." His eyes widen slightly…ha, he probably though I didn't see that! "Not bad, considering you were talking about her and love just a minute or so before hand."

"She just needed someone to talk to about it," Garrus hisses back, mandibles flared slightly in worry. "You were right, she wasn't completely over it."

I laugh lightly. "I know, but it didn't look like you were doing much talking. More hugging." Garrus shakes his head, sighing.

"Are you trying to say I took advantage?" he asks.

I shrug. "Did you?"

"No!" he replies indignantly, a little _too _loudly for my tastes, since it causes Wrex and Kaidan to give us a funny look. I smile and give them a little wave, and slowly both turn back to their conversation, Wrex shaking his head. "No," Garrus repeats, softly now. "Just comforting her. As a friend."

"Just bite the bullet and say something to her, Vakarian," I chuckle, leaning back in the seat. "Life's too short not to."

"So you've talked to Tali, then?" he asks slyly. Bastard…

"I'm working on it," I say, nice and vaguely. "Besides, do as I say, not as I do."

"Yeahhh," Garrus drones, laughing. "Isn't hypocrisy great? You do what you want, I'll deal with it my way."

I shake my head, tapping my foot impatiently. How long until we hit the drop zone? "Suit yourself, mate. Just thinking, you should probably seal the deal as soon as you can."

"Why?"

"I've heard this saying…once you've gone blue, nothing else will do. How accurate _is _that?" Garrus mandibles open wide in slight shock, obviously trying to compose some comeback...just as Joker's voice crackles through the radio. Saved by the guy with brittle bones, never thought _that _would happen.

"_Hitting the drop zone in thirty seconds, Commander. Everyone buckle up." _ Don't need to tell me twice, man…that story Wrex had of the krogan bouncing of impact and going splat is still freaking me out, even if it probably isn't true. Still, paranoia, not taking any chances.

"Roger that, Joker," Shepard says briskly, strapping herself in and glancing round at the rest of us. "Everyone good to go?"

This is it. Making a decision I can't go back on, and completely ignoring Shiara's 'advice' not to change anything. Well, that was before everything with Rebecca. That was before I met Kaidan and Ash in the flesh. To put it bluntly, fuck her. I'm writing my own damn future.

I nod firmly. "As much as I'll ever be." There's some murmurs of agreement around the interior of the Mako, as Shepard turns back around and puts it into gear as the Normandy's hangar doors burst open into dazzling daylight. Wow, it's as sunny as I remember…BioWare giving pathetic fallacy a big middle finger, I guess. Shepard revs the engine, with almost worrying fevour…and then she shoots forward and we're over.

Ugh, I'm getting that feeling of my stomach rising up in my chest again, adrenaline kick as the earth rushes towards us…and something streaks past the window. Something explosive looking. Whoa, what the _fuck _was that?

Then a hard slam into the ground that bounces me up, but the seatbelt holds it back. The belt itself bites into my legs a little bit, making me wince…but hey, better that than reduced to ketchup on the roof. That seemed a hell of a lot shorter than the drop on Therum, as well. Heh, must be getting used to it. Though I'm not used to near misses with missiles!

"They've got some big defence towers," Kaidan says grimly as Shepard starts the Mako slowly trundling forwards. "Might be a problem for Joker."

"Joker, are you seeing those towers?" Shepard says frantically into the radio. "Stay out of range and continue evasive manoeuvres! We'll bring them down."

"_Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," _Joker replies casually. Cocky bastard. _"Meet at you at the camp once the AA towers are dealt with. Joker out." _

Garrus frowns next to me. "Tower like that are bad news. Whatever's on this planet to do with Saren, he wants it protected."

"No shit," I mutter, as Shepard expertly manoeuvres through the shallow water and beach. It really is beautiful here…until the geth start shooting, anyway. Which reminds me. "I doubt the drive's gonna be peaceful. Should I man the gun?"

"Go ahead," Shepard nods from the driver's seat. "Keep your head on a swivel. Lot more places for geth to hide here, not like Therum."

"Got it." I stand up, leaning on the wall slightly for balance as the floor rocks beneath us. I heave myself up and into the gunner's chair, getting comfortable as I flick the safety covers off the triggers. Alright, time to kill some synthetic bastards!

If they turned up, anyway. So far, nothing, as Shepard cautiously advances forward and I spin the turret around. Not exactly the resistance I was expecting…hello, what's that? Something small floating in the distance, gun attached to its underside, telltale signs of a geth rocket drone. Quick squeeze of the machine gun trigger is enough to take it down, one of our own rockets taking care of his buddy. Would that be his buddy, actually? Seeing as they have shared consciousnesses and all that…something for later. Focus on shooting them for now. One of the little bastards is hiding behind a rock as we drive past, getting a lucky hit in on our shields, but a flurry of shots from the machine gun make short work of it.

I sigh as we hit the corner, adjusting my seating position slightly. I hate the Mako.

#######

So, yet another _sodding _explosion goes off as I fire the _sodding _cannon at even more _sodding _geth. I swear, pulling the trigger this often is going to pull some muscles in my hand, if the boredom doesn't make me ram my eyes through the joysticks first to end it all. A lot of people would probably love the opportunity to blow stuff up and fire heavy weaponry at pretty much defenceless enemies, but frankly the novelty wears off far, far too quickly.

We're pretty much invincible in the Mako. Which makes everything hella boring. I mean, not being in danger is something I'm normally grateful for…but this has just been like a glorified shooting range. For about twenty damn minutes. We've hopped out twice to take care of some gatehouses, but frankly it's nothing we couldn't handle too easily. No heroics, just easy resistance. Something seems odd…I definitely remember more enemies than this from my actual playthrough. Meh.

"The salarian camp should be just up ahead," Shepard says, her voice muffled slightly by the controls around me. "We're looking at another gatehouse, and…holy _shit, _what are they all doing there?"

I swivel the turret around to look at the gatehouse, and the sight that hits my eyes is astounding. We've got three geth colossi just chillin' there, along with rocket troops, at least ten regular geth, rocket drones…and they've put up shields.

Well. I guess this is where all the enemies I remember went to.

"Looks like they expected us," Kaidan mutters, as Shepard reverses quickly behind cover. Thankfully, the geth haven't detected us, which means we've got time for a plan. Not that anything's really springing to mind.

"That's…a lot of geth," Garrus admits. "We've fought a few, but that many at once is going to be a problem."

"Only an idiot charges at odds like that," Wrex says. Holy shit, even Wrex isn't suggesting we Leeroy Jenkins it? Serious business indeed. "Think we can snipe them out from here with the cannon?"

Shepard shakes her head from the front seat. "No, they'd have our shields down in seconds with that much firepower. Air support from the Normandy could do it, if it weren't for those damn AA towers. They've still got some up."

"We'd need a bomb of some description," Kaidan mutters. "A big one at that. Even then, we'd need some way of getting it to them without being killed." Fuck, this is a conundrum…we need something highly explosive, that we can somehow get over there quickly, without any of us being near it. If I learnt one thing from Therum, the Mako is _hella _explosive. Some kind of remote detonator for it? I eye up the grenades on my belt…and everyone else's. If we put every grenade in here on a remote detonator, that would be more than enough to blow the Mako up. And then some, I'm guessing.

So, we've got a bomb. Though, there's no way we can get anyone to drive it up to the geth. That's total suicide for the driver, and even if they could make it there without being killed, they'd have to literally run back. No, a driver is out of the question. Curses, plan foiled at the last hurdle! It actually would have been rather good too, especially to see the look on Garrus's face.

Unless…unless we had some way of remote controlling the Mako. And all of a sudden, an idea forms in my mind. A little glimmer of hope. "Shepard, the steering on this has electronic steering, right?"

The Commander looks surprised. "Yeah. Why?" She obviously catches the look on my face, as she raises an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"

"I think I've got the same idea as Ian, actually," Garrus grins. Psychic connection, I'm telling you… "We stack this thing with explosives, grenades, the like. If we can hack the controls so we can control the Mako remotely…"

"We can drive it right into them and set it off," Kaidan finishes the sentence for him. "Can you get into the controls?"

"Give us a minute," I mutter, hopping down from the Mako and opening up my omni-tool. "Shepard, can you open up the steering so we can access the circuitry?"

She nods, still looking a bit shocked at the sudden turn of events, and after a few button presses looses the wheel to let us see the systems underneath. Makes sense the wheel would come off, since these things are gonna need maintenance once in a while…though it'll probably need a bit more than that once we're done with it.

"You take the lead, Garrus, you're better with this stuff than I am," I admit. Don't want to give his ego a boost, but desperate times, right?

"Deferring to the expert," the turian chuckles, as he starts tapping away at buttons after both our omni-tools are linked into the system on a maintenance level. "Good call."

I shake my head ruefully. "Didn't say you were an expert, just that you might be better than me. Though I'm rethinking that, since you should probably set that power node," I point at the circuit diagram on his omni-tool, 'to manual control, since it's linked into the entire mainframe."

"Shit, good point…" he says. "That should let us take control of most major systems, just need to program acceleration…" Garrus's beady eyes almost seem to glaze over as he gets into the hack/calibrations, frantically pressing at buttons…until, with a grin, he finally stops. "We have control. Everyone, grab your grenades and stick them around here. On a remote detonator." I take my three grenades off my belt, sticking one of my chair, another on the roof and one on the floor.

Everyone else follows suit, and I notice Wrex putting all of his as close to the fuel tank as possible. Hmm, good thinking… "Alright, everyone out!" Shepard shouts, popping open the doors, as we all jump out into the shallow water. Oh, the climate here is _lush…_almost a shame we're gonna make it a hell of a lot hotter in a few seconds.

"I'm surprised, you know," I say to Garrus, as he gets ready to remote pilot the Mako. "You, getting stuck into a plan to blow up the Mako."

"We don't have a choice," he smiles. "I shouldn't be too surprised anyway, after all the other missions. Best to make it go out with a bang, right?"

"Good attitude," I laugh. "Don't mess this up, though. We only get one shot at this."

Garrus shakes his head. "No pressure, then. Just don't press the detonator early."

"What, this detonator?" I tease, hovering my finger of the button. Garrus's eyes widen slightly…then narrow when he realises I'm taking the piss. Sighing lightly, mandibles widened in a disapproving fashion, he presses a button on the omni-tool, and the Mako hurtles forward at full speed. Straight towards the geth.

It covers about half the distance before the geth finally catch sight of it, another ten metres before they start shooting. Pretty much a wall of shots impact the Mako, knocking it off course slightly…but Garrus expertly brings it back around. Yep, no way in hell the geth are escaping now. Just a few more seconds until explosion time…

"Now!" Shepard yells, and as one we all stab down on our detonators. There's a _huge _explosion, knocking all of us except Wrex off our feet, and even the krogan staggers a few steps back. The air's filled with the sound of birds taking to the sky, screeching in shock…accompanied with a huge splash as various bits of the gatehouse hit the water. Apart from the odd bit of scrap metal, there's no sign of the geth. At all. Now that's what I call awesome.

My ears are ringing massively as I slowly clamber back up to my feet, but I can still faintly hear Joker's voice coming through my headseat. "_Normandy to ground team! Come in, ground team!"_

"We're here, Joker," Shepard groans from next to me. "The AA towers are down, head for the salarian camp."

"_That's great, Commander, but what the hell just happened? We picked up seismic activity from your position, 6.3 on the Richter scale over a small area, but it hit about 3.9 a few miles around you. What happened?"_

"Just clearing the way, Joker," Shepard replies, blinking a few times quickly, presumably to try and clear her head. "We lost the Mako, but the salarian camp's only three hundred or so metres away from here. We're gonna walk the rest of the way, so get ready for us when we arrive. Ground team out." She drops her hand from the headset, and turns to face Garrus and I. "Nice plan. Feels like I've been hit with a stun grenade, but cleared the way nicely. Alliance are going to be furious, though."

"Sucks to be them, then," I shrug. "Better lose the Mako than our lives, right?"

"Knowing bureaucrats, I doubt they'd agree," Wrex grunts. The depressing thing is, he's probably right. "Let's go see these damn salarians, then, before anymore geth get here."

Damn salarians, indeed. God, I'm not looking forward to this talk with Kirrahe…but Shepard got Wrex's armour back. It should be fine.

I hope.

##########

"So," I hear Ash say faintly, as we close the distance towards her and the salarian she's glaring furiously at, "what do we now?"

"Wait until we come up with a plan," Kirrahe explains calmly. Ah, Captain Kirrahe, you beast. Second coolest salarian to Mordin. As far as I know. Shepard jogs up quickly, presumably before Ash 'accidentally' lets her mouth run away with her as her facial expression is suggesting.

"Are you in charge here?" she asks, a little impatiently. "What's going on exactly?"

The salarian folds his arms. "Captain Kirrahe. Third Infiltration Regiment STG. You and your crew just landed in the middle of a hotzone, where every AA gun for miles is now aware of your presence."

"We noticed," Shepard says dryly. "So, what are we going to do about it?"

"Stay put until the reinforcements we requested turn up," Kirrahe says happily. "We felt some explosion on a huge scale, so they must be mopping up the geth. With some impressive firepower, too." Oh, God, awkward…all of our crew just stands there, not really making eye contact with Kirrahe.

I raise an eyebrow. "Should I tell him?" Kirrahe looks at me, eyes narrowing in concern. "Sorry, mate, we're the reinforcements. That explosion was us. No-one else is coming."

"I told the Council to send a fleet!" he protests. "What happened?"

"Your transmission was crap," Wrex says bluntly. "We got sent to investigate."

"That's exactly what we were doing!" Kirrahe says, sounding frustrated. "Lost half my men 'investigating' this place. This is Saren's base of operations. He has a research facility, but it's extremely well fortified. Oh, and crawling with geth." We never visit anywhere _not _crawling with geth, do we?

Kaidan shakes his head next to me. "After what happened on Noveria, Saren and research facilities can't be good."

"You weren't there," Shepard shivers. "But he's got a point. What's Saren researching?"

"As far as we can tell," Kirrahe says, "he's using it to breed an army of krogan." Fuck. That can't be good…and Wrex seems to have picked up on that as well, taking steps closer to the salarian.

"How is that possible?" he asks, sounding angry.

"Apparently," Kirrahe replies, with the tone of someone choosing their words very carefully indeed, "Saren has discovered a cure for the genophage." Oh, shit, here we go…

Shepard looks alarmed. "A krogan army would just about make him unstoppable."

"Exactly," Kirrahe nods grimly. "We need to destroy this facility, and its secrets."

"I don't think so," Wrex chuckles dangerously, shaking his head. "My people are dying. This can save them."

"If the cure leaves the planet, the krogan will become unstoppable," the salarian points out simply. "We can't make the same mistake twice." Mistake? Bloody hell, that's a bit harsh…Wrex seems to share that sentiment, sticking a huge finger in Kirrahe's face.

"We are not a mistake," he growls, then turns away and strides off towards the sea. Kirrahe, to his credit, just surveys the krogan coolly as he leaves then turns back to Shepard.

"Is he going to be a problem? We already have enough krogan to deal with." I shoot him a filthy glare for that, which he just ignores.

Shepard shakes her head, sighing. "I'll talk to him. Don't worry."

"I do worry," Kirrahe says coldly. "That's why I'm still alive." With that, he turns on his heel and strides back towards the other salarians, presumably to form some kind of battle plan. Which leaves us in the sticky situation of talking Wrex down. It's a pickle, alright.

"This place is in a hell of state," I sigh, as Shepard, Kaidan, Ash and I form a group huddle. I've got no idea where Garrus has gone…presumably to stock up on grenades from the Normandy, I'm guessing. Hope he brings some for me. "Wrex ain't helping that, either."

"He looks like he's gonna blow a gasket," Ash says. "It's not my call, Commander…but you should go talk to him."

"It wouldn't hurt," Kaidan admits. "Actually, on second thoughts…do it carefully."

Shepard nods. "I can calm him down. He'll listen."

"If you say so," Ash replies cynically. "I'm keeping an eye on him, though. Just in case." Oh, overaggressive space marine cliché for the loss…I'm supposed to be the paranoid one, not her! Still, family armour, all should go well.

Ash and I both watch Shepard as she strides off towards Wrex, and I'm feeling pretty damn apprehensive as she does. Sure, Wrex has a way of winding me up sometimes…but he's a good friend. A really good friend, come to think of it. But I've got confidence in Shepard. "You think he'll come around?" I say, still watching the scene unfolding ahead, as Wrex looks up at Shepard and they start talking.

"Dunno. Krogan are known for aggression," Ash says simply.

"So are you."

"You're on fire today, aren't you?" she replies sarcastically. Wrex has moved from his position by the water, slowing advancing on Shepard and staring her down. No guns drawn yet…but it must be getting close.

I shrug. "Can't help having a quick wit." Wrex has his face right up against Shepard's, now…and in the blink of an eye, he takes two quick steps back and brings out the shotgun, as Shepard pulls her pistol. Fuck! Come on, Shepard, just say the magic words…

"Hold back, Ash," I say, voice shaking slightly with tension. "Shepard's got this." I can see them both talking…but Wrex doesn't seem to be getting any calmer. What happened to the family armour! It ain't doing shit! "Give them a second." No reply. Huh? "Ash?"

I swivel around to where she's standing…or was standing. Crap, where's she gone! I whirl around frantically, looking back at Wrex…and then, just in his blind spot to my left, about ten metres ahead of me, I can see her.

Ashley Williams calmly stares at Wrex. And in her right hand she holds a pistol, aimed squarely at his head.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Haven't had one for a while :-)**

**So, yet another Mako destroyed, the eve of battle is upon us…and Wrex's fate hangs in the balance. Along with Kaidan and Ash's. Normally, I'd go for a preview of the next chapter, but hey. That spoils the whole cliffhanger, right?**

**In other news, my man Animesage is writing a SI called 'These Roles We Play', and it's rather good, if I do say so myself. It's for Mass Effect as well, so bonus! Give it a read, since the wait for next chapter may be rather large. I've got a lot of coursework. I know I say that most chapters, then have an update in about a week anyway, but I mean A LOT this time. Blows the old stuff out of the water. **

**Regular updates (every one or two days) will be on my profile page, though, so I'll let you know how the next chapter is coming along. **

**Later!**

**P.S: Thanks to Guardian54 for the 'once you've gone blue, nothing else will do' line.**


	30. Ian vs The First Contact

Chapter 30

The Great Beyond: The Fray (or R.E.M, if you prefer the original)

**A/N: Little to no time to spell-check, so I haven't been as thorough as normal. Sorry in advance.**

She's going to pull the trigger. I can see it in her eyes, the focus on her face, the finger tightening on the gun. Wrex won't even know what's hit him.

A friendship ended in less than a second.

There's no way I'm letting that happen.

I don't stop to consider the impacts, what this could mean on the whole, just feel myself pushing off the ground and sprinting as fast as I can towards Ash, time slowing to a crawl as she lines it up. Remember what Ash taught me, where to punch someone to disarm them…

I punch out mid-sprint, making solid contact with her hand and knocking the pistol away. Yes! Ash looks at me, absolutely horrified, but I just ignore her and turn to look at Wrex…who's now pointing his shotgun at me. Fuck. I didn't really think this through. Though if I had, he'd probably be dead. For now, I've got to try and help Shepard pull this back…provided she doesn't blow his head off while he's distracted. Or Wrex doesn't just blow me away. Don't think that!

"Give me a reason!" Wrex shouts threateningly at me, baring his teeth slightly. Goddamn, he's _pissed. _And pointing a shotgun at me. Bad, bad… "How can I trust you? You want to destroy the cure that could save my people!" Shit, how I'm gonna deal with this? Diplomacy probably won't cut it with an angry krogan…so maybe fighting fire with fire might work.

"Oh, fuck off, Wrex!" I shout back, taking quick steps towards him and praying this bluff works out. I'm feeling my limbs shake slightly, but try my best not to let it show. "You're not going to shoot me, mate, so put the gun down! We can talk about this!" I take a quick glance over my shoulder at Ash, who thankfully hasn't gone for another weapon. Though that's probably because I'm in the firing line between her and Wrex.

The krogan shakes his head. "Don't be so confident. I thought you were against the genophage, Ian. Why do this?"

"This isn't about the damn genophage, Wrex!" I yell at him, the temptation to draw some kind of weapon strong, but I hold back. "And if you really though we were a threat, you couldn't trust us, you'd have shot me straight away! Don't let this cure blind you!"

"I'm not blind!" Wrex roars, raising the shotgun as I step even closer. That makes me grind to a halt rather quickly, as Shepard, Wrex and I stand in a triangle, her gun pointed at him, his at me. She's had the shot for a while now…so Shepard must be intent on getting through to him. Even though we're playing a bloody dangerous game here. "You want to destroy the thing that would save my species! How is this not about the genophage?"

"Because Saren is only using it to make you his slaves!" Shepard shouts, making us all turn our attention back to her. Finally, the Commander finds her voice… "Tools to be used and discarded! You saw how he left Shiala on Feros, and he'd do the same to an entire species! It might be a cure now, but after he's done with the krogan he'll leave them to rot. Is that what you want? Is it?"

Wrex stares down the sights of the shotgun at Shepard, eyes unblinking…but he's not going to shoot. I can see it in his face, and Shepard probably can as well. Come on, buddy, just put the gun down…I'm getting a horrible image of Ash shooting him in the head right now, but I don't dare look around. Not what it's this tense.

"No," Wrex finally says, slowly. "No. We were tools once, for the Council, in the Rachni Wars. To thank us for that, they neutered us all. I doubt Saren will be as generous." With that, he lowers the gun, then inclines his head at Shepard and I. "I'm not saying I like this. But I trust both of you enough to follow your lead."

I whistle out a _huge _sigh of relief, glancing back over my shoulder at Ash, who's just glaring at me slightly. "You do not know how glad I am to hear you say that, man."

"Whatever," he grunts, though he does smile a little bit when I say that. "Just one thing. When we find Saren…I want his head."

"Get in line," Shepard smiles. "Are we good?"

Wrex nods. "Yeah. I guess I should thank you, Ian."

Eh? I raise an eyebrow. "For what?"

"Stopping her from shooting me," he replies, glaring over at Ash, who's picking her pistol up from the sand.

"Oh, you know how Ash is. Always over-reacting," I say, trying to laugh it off, as Shepard makes her way back to the salarians.

"She almost killed me. That's a bit more than over-reacting."

He's got a point there… "I think she was just trying to protect Shepard. Nothing personal."

"Is that supposed to make it feel better?" he replies, grunting with deep laughter.

"Hypocrite," I grin. "You pulled a gun on me. Am I not supposed to take that personally?"

"With a personality like yours, it was bound to happen eventually," Wrex shrugs. "Only people who've told me to 'fuck off' before are dead."

Why doesn't that surprise me? "Guess I'm lucky we're friends, then," I reply. It's kinda harrowing, to think only a tiny while ago he was just seconds from death…and I stopped it. By all rights, Wrex should be gone. That…would have fucked me up. Really bad. "About this whole cure thing…I'm sorry. I really am. But this is best thing to do for your species."

"I'll keep telling myself that," he sighs. For the first time, Wrex actually sounds a bit tired. "You and Shepard are right. It's not worth selling our free will for. I trust you enough to believe it."

"Thanks," I smile, actually pretty proud of the fact Urdnot Wrex trusts me in a matter as important to him as this. "I trust you too, mate. Even if I thought you were going to kill me for a second."

"Still might," he grins, baring his teeth slightly. "Depends on how annoying you get."

"I'll bear that in mind. Though Ash might get to you first." Wrex laughs properly, low rumble reverberating around the area.

"I'll watch out for that," he nods, as I catch a glimpse of Shepard with the salarians out of the corner of my eye…oh, she's waving us over! "Looks like they've finally come up with a plan, then. Good. I'm sick of waiting."

Got that right… "Makes two of us. Let's see what they've got. What're you betting this isn't going to be some kind of cakewalk?"

"Hope it's not," Wrex replies, trudging off towards the salarian camp. "I'm in the mood for shooting something now. And if the geth don't show up soon, I'll have to make do with what's around. Salarians will do."

Ooh.

##########

"We can convert our ship's drive system into a twenty kiloton ordinance. Crude, but effective."

"I assume that means we blow this place the fuck up, right?" I ask, getting a glare from Kirrahe. "What? I don't like technobabble!"

He shakes his head, sighing. "As your man so aptly put it, yes, we can blow this place up with it. Crude, but effective."

"Like Ian," Shepard chuckles. Oi! I'm standing right here! "So, we drop it from orbit, and this place is done."

"Saren can kiss his turian ass goodbye," Ash grins. Garrus shakes his head lightly next to me, but doesn't take it any further.

Kirrahe frowns. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple." It never is…though I already knew this, so I don't really know why I'm acting so surprised. "The base is heavily fortified. We'll need to place the bomb in a precise location."

"Where?" Shepard asks simply. "And how do we get to that spot?"

"The bomb must be taken to the far side of the facility," Kirrahe explains. "Your ship can drop it off, but we'll need to infiltrate the base, disable the AA guns and take care of any ground forces."

Shepard sighs. "It couldn't just be on our end of the base, could it?"

"That would be too easy," Kirrahe replies, cracking a rare smile. "We don't have the numbers to meet them head on, anyway. I'm going to divide my men into three teams and hit the front of the facility. While we're distracting them, you can sneak your shadow team in the back."

"What?" Shepard asks incredulously. "You'll be slaughtered!" Fair concern, but I know how the plan can go for the salarians. Provided we help them out, Kirrahe's men are just about badass enough to make it. In theory.

"We tougher than we look, Commander," Kirrahe says proudly. That's what I'm talking about! "But you're right. I don't expect many of us will make it. Which…makes what I'm going to ask even more difficult." There's a palpable tension in the air when he says that, everyone's attention focused on the salarian. This is where it all begins… "I need one of your men to accompany me. Help co-ordinate the teams."

"Shit," Shepard says quietly. "It's a good plan, but I don't like it. Putting one of my people under your command, especially when it's this risky."

The Captain shakes his head slightly. "If your people aren't prepared to face such a risk, do you really want them by your side?"

"He's right, Commander," Kaidan speaks up from behind us. "We need both teams at their very best. I can do it."

"No, that can't work," Ash snaps. "We need you to arm the nuke. I'll go."

"With respect," Kaidan replies, voice tensing. "It's not your place to decide." God, I hope they don't fight, that would be embarrassing…even though my money would be on Ash. Provided Kaidan didn't use biotics.

Then, to my horror, Kirrahe points at _me. _Oh, no, no, no! I need to be with Shepard to put my plan into effect! If they choose me…at least one of us is screwed! "What about him?"

To my massive relief, Shepard shakes her head. "No. I want Ian on my team. Ash, you'll accompany the salarians. No heroics, alright?" 'No heroics'…that sends a chill down my spine. If only she knew.

"Aye aye, Commander," Ash says briskly. Well, at least she's happy enough with it. I hope splitting the squad'll be enough to get her out.

"We'll load the bomb onto the Normandy, and brief your crew on its detonation," Kirrahe explains. "If anyone has any questions, now's the time."

Silence ensues.

"Good," he nods. "Are you ready for this, Commander?"

"Whenever you are," she nods firmly. Well, this is it. The beginning of Saren's end…but hopefully not Kaidan or Ash's. I'm still on a bit of a high from saving Wrex, but the risk is all too clear in my mind. I hate stressing out. Kirrahe nods, then walks off, presumably to get his team ready, leaving Garrus, Ash, Kaidan, Shepard and I here.

Ash smiles weakly. "It's kinda weird, going under someone else's command...I've gotten so used to working with you guys. It's just, if anything happens…it's been an honour, Commander."

"You'll be fine, Ash," Shepard says reassuringly, locking eyes with the other woman. "Go in hard, hit them harder, and we'll be the only damn thing that comes out. Got it?"

"Yeah," she laughs. "Got it. I should probably go and rendezvous with them, so…good luck."

"Same to you," I say quietly, as she walks past. Something tells me she's not going to be the only one who needs it.

##########

Actually getting the team ready passed like a blur, to be honest. After Kirrahe's speech, which gave me chills even though it didn't apply to me, Shepard sent Kaidan back onto the ship with the nuke, and took the rest of us with her, quoting Kirrahe about a 'lack of troops'. The more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. Makes splitting up to rescue both a more viable option.

So, Shepard, Liara, Tali, Wrex, Garrus and I stride out into the shallow waters after entering our infiltration point. The salarians have already gone on ahead in what might be one of the most suicidal missions of all time…and we've got a hell of a fight ourselves.

All in a day's work, right?

"_Comm check. Do you read me, Commander?_" Kirrahe's voice says through my earpiece, slightly distorted but still understandable.

"We're good," Shepard says, glancing over her shoulder at us. "Let's go."

"_Good_," comes the stiff reply. "_We'll try to reach the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job. Think you can handle it?_"

Shepard snorts derisively. "Let me take care of that. If we see any other way of helping you out, we'll take it." Oh, that's good…if Shepard's set on this, maybe we can save Kirrahe! Get in!

"_Good luck,_" comes the STG captain's reply, then the line goes dead. Just us now…though there are six of us. That makes me feel quite secure. Most Shepard's taken out on a mission…but this isn't exactly an ordinary mission.

Garrus and I hang back a bit as we advance cautiously forwards, sniper rifles out. About damn time we got to used the range advantage, rather than being stuck in corridors like Feros or rushed by rabid aliens like Noveria. "You alright?" I ask casually, trying to make conversation before we start getting shot at.

"Yeah, fine," he mutters back. "Good job talking Wrex down, by the way. And stopping Ash shooting him in the back of the head. Wouldn't have been good to see him dead."

"Caring about the krogan?" I grin. "Wasn't expecting that. You two are at each other's throats most of the time."

"I wouldn't say that," he replies, a little indignantly. "We…have professional disagreements."

I laugh in disbelief. "That's one way of putting it. Like that time on Noveria, when you were talking about the genophage?" He nods. "_That _wasa professional disagreement? What would an argument be? Him ripping your head off?"

"He's the nicest krogan I've met," Garrus replies, avoiding the question rather beautifully. Shame he doesn't dodge gunship missiles as well as he dodges questions. "Then again, that's not exactly a big competition, seeing as all the other ones were arrests, I think." I roll my eyes at him.

"Well, at least you're getting along. As much as a krogan and turian can, anyway," I shrug. "It's taken bloody long enough, th-" A gunshot cuts me off, assault rifle round peppering the water around us as the rest of the team dive for cover. Guess I should join in! I splash a few steps to the right and belly-flop behind a rock, pushing my back to it, and stealing a quick glance around. There's a bloody tower ahead, with mobile shields set up and geth hiding behind them…probably should have paid more attention to the battlefield rather than talking to Garrus.

Meh. At least they're friends, right?

"_Are you going to shoot something, turian?_" Wrex's voice says through my earpiece. "_Unless you're hiding a bioweapon that renders them useless?_"

Maybe friends is a bit of a strong word, after all.

I lean out, lining up the sights, making my breathing slow and steady. Ignore what's going around…just me and the target. Scope's on the geth's head. I pull the trigger, firm recoil knocking my arm back slightly, but the geth goes down as I pull the bolt back for another shot. Garrus is working away at them too, clocking a headshot of his own, while Tali Overloads one geth in such a way that it shoots one of its friends while it convulses in the electric field she's created. Now, _that's _creativity.

Wrex, on the other hand, seemingly can't be arsed with creativity, blasting merrily away at one geth with his shotgun. With one hand. Just because he can. Liara makes a singularity that draws about three geth in…who Shepard blasts with a biotic push that smashes all three against a cliff face. One geth has the bloody audacity to fire on Tali from over the banister of the tower…I lift the rifle up, take a quick second to aim, and score a hit against its shoulder, knocking its assault rifle from its grip and staggering the synthetic slightly. I slide the bolt back as quickly as I can, realigning the sight. Oh, you're mine now…

There's a sniper rifle report, but it's not mine as the geth falls down. I lower the rifle, slowing looking to my right, already knowing what I'm going to see. Garrus Vakarian's smug, grinning face looking back at me.

"Haven't done that in a while," he shrugs. Kill-steal! Arrgh!

"Yeah. Because that justifies it, right?" I reply sarcastically, as Shepard signals the area's clear and we holster our weapons. "What did I do to get cursed with a friend like you?"

"Joined C-Sec. It was all downhill from there," he chuckles. I laugh too, as we stride up the ramp and into whatever's in this tower. God, it's been so long since we've just been able to chill out, like old times with C-Sec and Flux…I wonder how the bartender's doing, actually? Probably still set on getting me to drink _something _alcoholic.

"You've got a comeback for everything, don't you?" I sigh, as Shepard presses a few buttons on a wall mounted console, then smiles triumphantly.

"That should disrupt geth communications, help Kirrahe and Ash out a bit," she explains. "Keep moving. We've still got a long way to go before we reach the bomb site."

Oh Shepard. If only you knew.

##########

Bang, bang, bang. That's pretty much all I've been hearing for the past fifteen or so minutes, as we've fought tooth, nail and talon up to the base's exterior. I've got a couple of extra scratches and cuts to add to my rapidly growing collection, and a few dents in my armour to go along with the varren claw gouge…but it's mostly been smooth sailing. We blew up a satellite uplink too, which was nice. Even when krogan showed up, we took them down with one of the most organised biotic attacks I've ever seen. Liara lifted him up biotically, Shepard grabbed a geth…and threw it at the krogan so hard she managed to impale him with it. Then Tali Overloaded the geth. The krogan actually lit on fire, though burning krogan isn't exactly the most pleasant smell in the galaxy…

It's almost worrying, in a way, how good I'm getting. A few years ago, becoming a cop would have been something I'd never see myself doing, never mind a soldier. I never thought I'd call a firefight 'routine', but it's actually becoming like that. Though I'd be absolutely screwed without the rest of the team. It just never occurred to me…I've become quite efficient at killing. And since I plan on using this power for good, it's no bad thing. Just surprising.

"Stack up on the door," Shepard says, serious face firmly on. "Wrex, you and I'll take point." The krogan nods, as we all line up on opposite sides of the door. Shepard hovers her hand over the door control…then quickly stabs down on it and rushes through, pistol up. Nothing there. That's a relief…I hate door breaches. Especially since it doesn't go into slow-motion when we do them in Modern Warfare 2 fashion. Which would help quite a bit.

Instead, we walk out into a wide, open space, with a ton of storage boxes around. Huh, obviously some kind of storage facility…though it doesn't take particularly good intuition to work that out. Look pretty clear, though, so-

A small moan to our right sends everyone for their weapons, as I swivel to face the source of the noise. One salarian is crouched on the floor, and from the looks of things in a pretty pitiful state. Cuts all over, a massive gouge across his right arm still leaking salarian blood…but he's still clutching onto his pistol with his left hand. Poor bastard…

"He must be one of the first STG team Kirrahe sent in, managed to escape," Tali mutters, sounding shocked at the state of the salarian. "But, Keelah…what happened to him?"

"I don't know," I mutter back. Something about this doesn't feel right…I don't remember meeting any salarian survivors out in the open like this. "Hey, mate! Are you with the STG? Do you need help?"

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy, we're here to assist in the ground assault," Shepard adds. The salarian slowly turns his head to look at us, but that's all the response we get. Okay, definitely getting a bad feeling…

Shepard shakes her head sadly. "He must be in shock, losing the rest of his team. Do you need medi-gel?" she shouts to the salarian, walking towards him. Yeah, this ain't right.

"Shepard, I'm not sure about this," I say, as she advances even closer. "He's not acting normally."

The Commander frowns at me. "He needs help, Ian, and we're going to give it to hi-" She's cut off by a sudden yell from the salarian, who suddenly charges at the Commander and rugby tackles her to the floor with the element of surprise. I knew it! I line up the sights on the pistol to shoot it off…but Wrex is there first, flinging the salarian into a storage crate biotically and turning its head to mush on impact. What the fuck was that? Oh, _now _I remember, after it tried to kill us…some of the salarian squad sent in first have been indoctrinated, haven't they? Must have got to this one first…

"What happened to him?" Garrus asks, breathing heavily in surprise. Hell, we all are, especially Shepard. "That was an STG soldier!"

"Mother said Saren had a way of getting into people's heads, bending them to his will," Liara replies. "Perhaps he has done it to those they captured in the initial salarian assault." Bastard…

"If they're indoctrinated, there's not much we can do," Shepard says sadly. "Hopefully there won't be too many more. I don't like having to shoot people who're supposed to be our allies."

Tali nods. "It's horrific…I thought bringing the geth through the Veil was bad enough, but this…"

"We'll have time to make sure Saren gets his punishment later," Shepard points out, as we advance towards the next door. "But right now, we need to keep moving forward." She's right, as usual…we press on through, to a walkway overlooking cells. With more salarians in. Fuck me, the mission just took a hell of a depressing turn, didn't it?

"Should we help them?" Wrex asks, as we move across the walkway and towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Too risky," Shepard replies, shaking her head. "They're indoctrinated, and we can't release them. They'll probably just turn on us, even if they don't think they will." Damn, that's harsh…though probably a justified conclusion. Still, I'm not exactly happy to leave them behind. Then again, we'd probably regret letting them out. It's one of those horrible ambiguous situations…so thank God Shepard's here to make the decisions.

We all pile into the lift, conversation dead as we all catch our breath after the fierce fighting it took to get up here. Garrus's mandibles are slack as he draws in deep breaths, and even Wrex seems to be feeling it in the corner of the elevator, as much as he's trying to hide it.

And we haven't even seen the worst of it yet. Not by a long shot.

#########

Shepard looks seriously pissed off to see an asari sitting behind a desk, as we burst into an otherwise empty office. Hell, I think we're all pissed off. There was a research lab we saw on the way up here…and they were making husks. It's hard to describe, what the things looked like, what the monstrous machines making them were…but it's not going to be something I'm getting out of my head soon. I don't think any of us will. Except maybe Wrex. So hell, even _I'm _pissed off to see her just casually sitting there. And I'm normally the level headed one.

"Please!" the asari exclaims, rising to her feet with her hands up as she sees us all pointing guns at her. "I just want to get out of here before it's too late!"

"You didn't look like you were in a rush when we walked in!" Shepard replies. "Besides, everyone here is trying to kill us!"

"I'm a neuro-specialist!" she protests. "This job isn't worth dying over! Or worse…" the asari adds darkly. Oh, you can't just leave it like that…

"Worse?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She shakes her head sadly. "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren'll want to dissect my brain too." Dissect? Hell no!

"What the hell happened to krogan breeding facility?" Wrex grunts. "What is this?"

"Not this level," the asari replies. "We're studying Sovereign's effect on organic's minds. At least, I assume we are. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."

"Wait," Garrus says, anger rising in his voice even though he keeps the volume steady, "you helped Saren and you didn't even know why?"

"That's pretty damn stupid," I add. "What were you thinking?"

She raises her hands defensively. "The position wasn't exactly negotiable! Look, I can help you, alright? Just stop pointing guns at me!" Shepard looks thoughtful for a few seconds, then indicates for us to lower our weapons. Hell, even if she does turn hostile, it's not exactly going to take long for us to draw them again. "Thank you! This elevator behind me goes to Saren's private lab," she explains, as she walks over to it and starts pressing buttons on the wall panel. "I've got you access. All of Saren's private files! Are we good? Can I go now?"

Bloody hell, she's naïve…but evil might be a bit of a strong word. Provided she's telling the whole truth. Then again, she did just get us access to Saren's private database. I guess we owe her _something. _Even if it's not my call.

"Get out of here," Shepard finally sighs. "But know this. If I ever see you again, I'll kill you. You did loathsome experiments, and you helped Saren. The only reason I'm letting you go is because so many people have died already. Don't waste this."

"Thank you!" the asari gushes, literally sprinting past us on her way out. Well, that's probably the last we'll see of her. I make it two steps forward, before the thing I've been struggling to remember finally hits me. Fuck, she shows up in ME2 doing brutal experiments, doesn't she? DAMN IT! Well, not much I can do about that now…though if Shepard keeps her word about killing her next time they meet…she's only got about two years to live.

Maybe that's not a bad thing.

"This place is an abomination," Liara mutters, as we step into an elevator.

"That's what the nuke's for," I reply, as Shepard presses the button to Saren's private lab. "We're going to bring this place to the ground."

"Got that right," Shepard nods firmly. "Saren's going down as well. This is…it's…"

"Fucked up?" Garrus suggests.

Shepard grins. "That's one way of putting it." There's a bright ding from the lift, that's completely out of place in an environment like this, and we all walk out into the lab. Metal walkways go all around it, technical equipment covering just about every inch of the room…except one point on the lower level, that holds something far more interesting than any super-computer.

Every single pair of eyes widen as we do. Mine a second later than everyone else's, as I knew this was coming…but gotta do my best to fit in.

"Is that…a Prothean beacon?" Tali asks quietly, as we all slowly advance down the metal ramp towards it.

"Yep," Shepard sighs. "All of you, stand back. I need to examine this." Oh God, levitating vision round two, here we go…the Commander starts pressing things on the machine, as it lights up bright green…and lifts her up into the air. There's a small gasp of concern from Garrus next to me, and he makes towards her, but I hold out an arm to stop him. It's good that he cares, but this is something she needs to do.

Finally, with a gasp of pain, Shepard drops to the floor and onto her knees, and Garrus pushes past to help her up. Well, at least she didn't pass out. That makes a nice change.

"Anything new?" Liara asks, as Shepard reassures Garrus she's perfectly capable of walking on her own.

"No. Nothing I haven't seen before, anyway," Shepard replies shakily, heading back up the ramp to the exit. "He must be using it to remind himself of the vision, or something. I can't quite see why else he'd…oh, now what?" All of our gazes are drawn to a red holograph, appearing in the centre of the room by a central walkway…and I recognise the image before it's even fully formed.

Sovereign. Oh boy, this ought to be fun.

"I get the feeling something bad is about to happen," Wrex grunts, hands slowly going for his shotgun, but not drawing it. Just a holograph, albeit a pretty creepy one, it can't hurt us…

"You are not Saren," a deep, emotionless voice says, rumbling around the room and making me jump slightly. Bloody hell, he's loud!

"No shit," Shepard replies casually, obviously not fazed. "What, are you his VI or something? He could have picked something a bit more user friendly." Haha, Sovereign's probably not going to appreciate that, the pompous bastard.

"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."

I nod my head. "You're right. This VI _is _shit."

"There is a realm of existence so far beyond you own you cannot even imagine it," the Reaper continues, happily ignoring me. They probably don't have a concept of when someone's taking the piss. "I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!" There's a pause for dramatic effect as he waits for out response.

"So Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found," Shepard says, folding her arms as it finally hits her. "You're an actual Reaper!"

"Reaper," Sovereign continues, somehow making his voice sarcastic without changing tone at all. Dunno how he did it, but that's damned impressive. "A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

Liara shakes her head firmly. "The Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago. You could not have been there."

"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation." Ooh, that one stung… "An accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"I bet you tell all the girls that," I mutter, raising a grin from the rest of the squad.

"There's an entire galaxy of races, ready to fight you," Shepard replies defiantly. "Don't be so sure."

There's a slight pause, then the Reaper answers back. "Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken." Not the impression I'm under, mate…and if Shiara told me anything true, I'm the reason. Just don't _quite _know how I'm supposed to go about it yet, but hey, I'm working on it.

"Cycle?" Garrus asks. "Did I miss something? What is it talking about?"

"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilisations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."

"No, that can't be right!" Tali protests. "Why would you make the mass relays, then leave them for other species to find?"

"Your civilisation is based on our technology. By using it, you develop along the paths we desire," the Reaper explains simply. It is awfully devious, gotta hand it to him… "We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."

I give the Reaper a quick glare. "So what, this is some sort of harvest? Growing us like crops?"

"What the hell do you want?" Shepard demands, taking an angry step forwards. "Slaves? Resources?"

"My kind transcends your very understanding," Sovereign replies calmly. "We are each a nation, independent, free of all weaknesses. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence."

"How does that answer my question?" Shepard shouts, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "Are you the only one of your kind? Or are there more?"

"We are legion. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world."

Shepard shakes her head, laughing slightly. "You're not even alive. You're a machine. And I can break a machine!" True, that. Just ask the Mako.

"Your words are as empty as your future," Sovereign replies haughtily. Damn, that's a good analogy…might put that aside for later. "I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over." Shepard opens her mouth to say something…when the window next to us smashes with a huge crash, sending glass shards everywhere. I duck down, along with the rest of the crew, covering my head with armoured arms…but still take a nick to the face. Dammit! If only I had some kind of helmet that comes out of the armour for situations like this…maybe something to talk to Laet about if we get back to the Citadel.

When we look up again, Sovereign's image has disappeared. Oh, apparently we're not worth his time. I'm hurt. "Good riddance," Wrex mutters next to me, but Joker's voice coming through my earpiece cuts off anyone's reply.

"_Commander?" _Wow, Joker sounds desperate. This must be bad. "_We've got trouble!"_

"What kind, Joker?" Shepard asks quickly. Fair play, talking to a creature we weren't even sure existed and she's not fazed a bit. Guess she's the Spectre for a reason…

"_That ship, Sovereign? It just busted a U turn that would shear any of our ships in half. I don't know what you did down there, but…it's coming your way, and it's coming in hard. You need to get out of there, and quick!"_

Tali presses a few buttons on the console, then curses quietly. "You bosh'tet…the console is shot, Shepard. What's our next move?"

"Let's head to the breeding facility," Shepard says quickly. "Joker can pick us up after we set the nuke! Move out!"

Oh God, this is it. The final act of Virmire. We all hurry into the elevator, the rest of the crew presumably thinking about the hella creepy conversation we just had…but I'm more concerned with the near future. Save both Kaidan and Ash, while a nuke's about to go off and geth are attacking en mass.

Pressure's on.

Don't freak out.

**A/N: Well, in case it wasn't immediately obvious from that ending bit, next chapter will conclude Virmire. It's been a crazy ride already, what with Wrex narrowly avoiding getting killed and Sovereign and all that, but there's still the question of whether both Kaidan and Ash will make it out alive. Ooh, the tension.**

**However, just putting this warning out here in advance, I won't be able to write before Friday. AT ALL. Which means you'll be waiting at least a week for the conclusion of this portion of epicness. Sorry. Blame French GCSE, not me.**

**In other news, and as anyone who visits my author page regularly probably knows, I have this request up:**

**Amateur DeviantArtist? Prepared to do fan-art for free? ****No? Damn. In all seriousness, I realise that won't be many people...but if anyone wants to do some Ian and Garrus fan-art for Masses to Masses out of the goodness of your heart, then please, get in touch. Thanks to everyone who already has, as well! I really appreciate it.**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, and I'll see you next chapter!**


	31. Ian vs The Plan

Chapter 31

The Hoosiers: Choices

"I wasn't expecting that," Shepard breathes, as we descend in the elevator to head back outside. Now that the bravado from initially facing Sovereign's gone…it's pretty intimidating to think about him. Or it, since I think Reapers are genderless. Hell, I actually knew it was coming, too. God knows what everyone else is thinking.

"I don't think any of us were," Tali replies quietly. "I thought the geth were the greatest synthetic threat, but now these Reapers are real…"

"You didn't seem to bothered by it back up there," Garrus points out. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you and Ian were taking the piss a bit."

I nod, smiling a little bit. He's got that right… "I kind of use sarcasm as a defence mechanism. Something like that kind of puts all my defensive instincts on edge."

"No way in hell was I giving him any ground up there," Shepard says firmly. "You let your enemy see you're intimidated, you've lost half the battle."

"You?" Wrex grunts. "Intimidated?"

The Commander shakes her head, snorting derisively. "I didn't say that. It's just a shock to find out you're not just facing down a psycho ex-Spectre, now you've got his ancient death machine to fight as well. As if it wasn't hard enough already."

"It appeared to me," Liara muses, "that it was trying to make us lose hope. Make fighting seem pointless. I think it underestimates what people will do to survive." Considering she's kind of socially inept, fair play, Liara is bloody perceptive…

"Believe me, it's got a fight on," Shepard says a bit darkly. If only some epic music was playing right now… "It made the Protheans extinct, though. And they've got numbers enough to darken the skies of every planet?"

Wrex shrugs. "So we'll need a lot of weapons. If it's a machine, we can break it, like you said. Krogan are good at that, just ask any of the Mako engineers on Tuchanka." That gets a few chuckles from around the elevator. Sure, Sovereign's a hell of a threat…but none of us have lost heart. That's the important thing. And what else was I supposed to expect?

"If Reapers were as easily breakable as Makos," I say dryly, "we'd not have any problem at all. How many's that now?"

"Four," Garrus groans. "I've just given up on calibrating any new ones. It's just gonna get blown up anyway."

Tali folds her arms and looks at Garrus. "You helped destroy the last one," she points out in a slightly scathing tone. Ah, they're just like siblings bickering…

"That's because there was a point," he retorts. "Not like having the brakes shot out and it falling off a cliff. Or using it as a bridge for something you probably could have just gone around." He gives me a pointed glare when he says that.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," I grin back, causing the turian to give an exasperated sigh.

"See, this is why we can't have nice things," he replies. "Like back on the Citadel, that bit of art my father had left in the apartment that you smashed…"

I gawp at him indignantly. "Bullshit! You knocked it off the table when you were blind drunk, and since you can't remember it you blame me! Plus we were going to sell it anyway, since we both hate art!"

Shepard coughs lightly from the front of the elevator, knocking me off my stride mid-rant. "Sorry to interrupt your little domestic, or whatever the hell that was," she chuckles, "but we're reaching our destination any second now. How did we get from talking about Reapers to smashed art, anyway?"

"I don't even want to know…" Wrex mutters quietly, as the elevator doors finally open, giving the geth straight ahead a clean shot at all of us. Bugger! Bad enemy placement! Or good, from the geth's point of view… We all run forward as one, and I launch a dive roll and press my back behind cover, bringing up both pistols. Agility pays off when dodging bullets.

I bring up my omni-tool arm, unleashing an Overload at the single geth facing us down while firing the pistol in my other, free hand. The shields go down straight away, courtesy of Tali's omni-tool upgrade she gave me all that time back, and the pistol shots rip through its torso, though they seem to have little effect.

A shotgun, on the other hand, does. Wrex's shot tears a massive chunk through its left shoulder, causing it to reel back slightly…which does nothing to save it from Tali's boomstick, taking it squarely in the chest and knocking it across the bridge we're fighting on.

"Good shot," Wrex says admiringly, as Tali holsters her shotgun and strides forward with an achingly effortless coolness in her movements. Oh, stop making me love you…

We quickly jog through the office of that asari we let escape, which I still regret slightly, just in time to see the bridge that was raised before lower and open up our path. Along with a krogan warrior charging towards us. Not the best move when there's about thirty metres between us.

Quickly holstering the pistols, I drop to one knee and pull out the sniper rifle, lining up the scope on his head. He's not even bothering to swerve and avoid the line of fire…I pull the trigger, the recoil pushing on my arm, and the krogan lets out a massive yell, clutching at his eye and crumpling to the ground where he lies still. I hit his eye? Bloody hell, fluke shot is awesome.

"Yes, before you ask," I grin, "that was _totally _where I was aiming." Garrus just sighs, shaking his head along with Shepard as we all slide our weapons away once again.

"Sure. You couldn't hit that if you tried," he scoffs. "Once is luck. Twice, then maybe it's skill. I'd bet ten thousand credits you can't do it twice in a row."

"Go on then," I reply casually. Garrus gives me a shocked look. "Make the bet. If I miss, I'll give you a hundred credits."

"I'm putting up ten thousand, and you're putting up a hundred? How's that fair?"

"Odds," I reply. "It's far more likely I miss than make the hit. So my stake's lower. Come on, mate, you seemed confident a few seconds ago. Put your money where your mouth is." Honestly, I reckon if I put my mind to it, I can make the shot…and ten thousand credits would easily pay for the helmet idea I've got in my mind after the glass incident in Saren's lab. I saw the Dead Space 2 trailers before I got taken here…and if Laet can't make something similar, I'll be amazed.

Garrus looks unsure for a second, then his talon finally snakes out towards my hand. "Sure," he grins, and we shake on it. "If you want to give me your money, that's your prerogative." I'm prepared to put a hundred credits on it…both for the helmet, and to take Garrus's pride. Cos that's what friends are for.

"Are you sure about this?" Tali says to me, tone of voice suggesting amusement as we move forward through yet another non-descript room, which is thankfully devoid of enemies. Which makes a nice change. "That's a hard shot."

I shrug. "I can easily afford a hundred credits. It's worth the chance, however small, I make the shot. Plus, I know for a fact Garrus is loaded." It's true. We really didn't buy that much on the Citadel, and C-Sec pays detectives surprisingly well. Compared to other jobs, anyway. We move out into the dazzling sunlight once again, making me lift an arm up to shield my eyes, the vista from the edge of the spiralling walkway actually looking extraordinarily beautiful. And they say Eden Prime is supposed to be pretty…it ain't shit compared to here. Saren sure knows how to pick 'em…

"Good luck with that," the quarian says, shaking her head slightly. "Though I would quite like to see the look on Garrus's face if he lost ten thousand credits from one shot."

"You know what," I smile at her. "So would I. Could spend it on some armour upgrades…but I'll have some left over." Is this really the best time to ask her on a date? I'm covered in cuts and bruises, some of which are bleeding slightly, high on adrenaline…actually, the adrenaline is probably giving me the courage. "Could go out onto the Citadel with it, if-"

The 'if you wanted' is cut off by a shout from Wrex. "There's the money shot," he grunts, pointing out a krogan in the wide, open area ahead of us, with crates and boxes laid out. I turn around to him, looking over at Tali and back slightly and mouthing 'what the fuck' when my back is turned to her, as I grab my rifle and scope in on the krogan, who's idly minding his own business. I can hear Wrex chuckling slightly as he realises what he's done, but I just ignore him and focus on the shot. Finish the mission and save Kaidan and Ash first, love later.

Alright, the wind's blowing a little bit…but at this distance, fourty six metres, it's not really gonna have that much effect anyway. Their eyes are quite big, especially compared to a humans, so it's not impossible by any means…

I can hear Liara whispering something to someone behind me, but I block it out and steady my breathing. If I want to make a good shot, everything else needs to stop existing. Just me, the rifle, and the target. One dark eyeball. I suck in a deep breath, steadying the scope just to the left and above the eye to compensate for the wind. Hopefully this round ain't gonna cost me a hundred credits.

I pull the trigger…and nothing happens. The krogan just stands there, nothing seeming to have happened. Fuck! I missed! "That's a hundred to me!" Garrus crows. "I told you, Ian, no-one can do-"

"Wait a minute," Shepard says calmly. "Watch him." Oh, wow, the krogan is actually swaying back a little bit…okay, now quite a lot, and now's he crashed onto his back and is lying still. No…no way. Did I get the shot? Garrus is shaking his head disbelieving next to me, but the rest of the crew have massive grins on their faces. I look down my sight at it, as does Garrus. Oh, wow, it's gone right through the eye! Must have gone straight into the brain, which is why it just stood there then went down. There's a groan from Garrus as I turn to face him.

"You might want to wire that to my account once we get back onto the Normandy," I smile. "Ten thousand credits. Bloody hell, that's a hefty sum. But it'll teach you not to gamble."

"You…" he stutters, "I…fuck." Fortunately, the geth in the area haven't picked up we killed the krogan, since he was standing by himself as they patrol the area. That's a stroke of luck.

Liara smiles as she brushes past him. "Perhaps you should be more confident in your friend's abilities. You will be now, anyway."

"Alright, alright," Shepard chuckles, "enough about Garrus being humiliated. You can pay Ian back on the Normandy." Ha, even his love interest isn't standing up for him! "Right now, we've got a crowd of geth ahead. You know the drill. Ian, Garrus, you snipe, Wrex and Tali lead the assault, and Liara and I'll cover with biotics and pistol fire. Got it?"

"We got it the first hundred times we used that tactic," Wrex grunts. "Let's just kill some geth."

Amen to that.

##########

"And that," Shepard says triumphantly, as we splash our way towards the massive bulkhead doors at the end of the wide, open area we're in, with massive structural supports flanking us on either side, the symmetry only interrupted by the odd geth corpse just laying about the place. "Is how we do that." It's true. There was some pretty heavy resistance back there, but the closest we had to trouble was Garrus getting clipped by some geth fire, presumably trying to regain his pride by sniping the best he can. Poor guy. Still, he can afford it.

"_Set the charges!" _Ash's voice suddenly barks into my earpiece, though obviously this isn't to us. Not unless she wants us to blow up this room, anyway. Ah, the salarians must be at the AA tower…and not a moment too soon, since the bulkhead doors open up into an area all to familiar to me. Here it is. The nuke site. It's sending chills up my spine, and not the good kind. "_Everyone, get clear!"_

From the distance, there's the sound of an explosion, and a plume of flame snatches at the sky before being drawn back down to earth, accompanied by Joker's laughter as we see the Normandy flying overhead. "_Nice work!" _the pilot shouts enthusiastically. Ah, he's such a sucker for explosions…Thanix Cannon much? "_Bringing her in now, Commander." _

Mind you, Joker's said that pretty much as he touches down, making the notice almost entirely pointless, but what the hell. I start looking around the area, taking in the best place for cover and sniping spots…because if we split up and I end up back here, I at least want to be prepared. No good if all of us die along with the person we're trying to rescue.

"Here they come," Wrex mutters, as the hangar doors open out into a ramp...and Kaidan and some other crew members wheel it out. The nuke. The thing that's gonna make this mission go straight to hell. "It doesn't look like much."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you were standing next to it when it went off," Shepard points out, waving Kaidan over after he and his team gently place the bomb in the correct position. Which means, Ash should be calling us any time now.

"Bomb's in position, we're all set over here," Kaidan says, holding a hand up to his ear to show he's talking over the radio. "Ash, how's it going?" No reply. Oh, crap, that ain't g-

"_Commander!" _her voice finally says, sounding pretty worried but alive. Thank Christ. "_Can you read me?"_

Shepard glances over at us, looking slightly alarmed by Ash's tone of voice. From the looks of it, so are the rest of the crew. "I read you, Williams," she finally says. "The bomb's in place. Get over to the rendezvous point, now!"

"_Negative, Commander!" _comes the frantic reply. _"The geth have us pinned by the AA tower! We've taken casualties, but Kirrahe's still alive." _That's gonna help, actually. Good thing we took down those targets for the salarians. "_Even so, we'll never make the rendezvous point in time!" _ I hear Garrus murmur something behind me, and I definitely catch the word 'spirits', while Tali utters 'Keelah' from next to me and looks down at the floor.

"Ash, we're coming to help!" Shepard says, signalling all of us to follow her as she runs off towards the elevator leading up to the way to the AA tower. "Just sit tight!"

"_No!" _Ash says indignantly. "_The nuke's the priority! We'll hold them as long as we c-" _Suddenly, the line just goes dead. Oh, shit, that can't be good…Shepard dashes to the door control, hurriedly pushing the button and sprinting through, straight at the three krogan waiting for us. Fuck!

I hurl myself behind cover, Tali and Garrus taking up positions near me, but Shepard just keeps on running straight at them. Jesus Christ, is she trying to get herself killed? Three krogan? "Shepard!" Garrus yells. "Get to cover! It's too dangerous!" The Commander completely ignores him, considering her wild run forward…and beginning to glow blue. "Shepard! SHEPARD!" Garrus continues screaming, his voice actually taking on a frenzied edge as he watches her run, helpless…and then the Commander throws her arms out.

The ensuing biotic blast knocks all the krogan high, high off their feet and colliding with nearby solid objects at an obscene velocity. There's a lot of crunching, snapping and sickeningly squishy noises as they impact…but the result, three krogan dead in one devastating attack. Makes me wish I had biotics.

I glance over at Garrus as we run to catch up with the Commander, raising an eyebrow. He gets the message fairly quickly. "What?" the turian says, trying not to sound embarrassed. "Professional concern."

"Uh-huh," I mutter cynically, as we all dash into the elevator leading up to the next level. Shepard obviously gives a hell of a damn about her crew…not many people face down three krogan like that. Then again, this is Commander fucking Shepard. Being badass is just part of the job.

The lift reaches the next floor surprisingly quick, as we all dash out into the area I recognise far, far too well. Shepard runs up the slight incline towards the guard rail overlooking the guard rail…and just as I expected, a geth dropship comes flying overhead as she does. Jesus, I'm getting jitters, but this is it. Time to put the plan into effect. I hope.

"_Damn it!" _Kaidan's voice says through my earpiece, and everyone else's. _"Geth dropship just landed, we've got tons of the bastards swarming all over the bomb site!" _

"Shit," Shepard says quietly, then puts a hand up to her radio. "Can you hold them off?"

"_I don't think we can survive until you get here," _Kaidan replies, sad tone to his voice, but it's hard as steel for what he says next. _"I'm activating the bomb."_

All of us exchange frantic looks as Shepard shouts back down the radio. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"_I'm making sure this bomb goes off!" _he shoots back. _"No matter what." _Shepard takes some unsteady steps forward, leaning over the balcony and staring at the view stretching out before us. "_It's done, Commander. Now go get Williams and get the hell out of here!"_

"_Screw that, we can handle ourselves!" _Ash says. _"Go and get the LT, Commander!" _This is it, my moment to change things…I just hope Shepard goes for it.

"I…" she says hesitantly, obviously making her mind up. Fuck, time to bite the bullet and do my bit.

"Shepard, you don't have to choose," I point out, getting a whole host of stares from the party. "We can split up. You take two people and get someone, I'll take the other two and get the second person. If we're quick, we can bring the Normandy around and get both of us out."

If anything, now Shepard looks more torn than before. "That's risky…what if there's not enough people?" Oh, no, you do not shoot this plan down!

"You've seen us all fight! Three people is more than enough to push any geth back!" I say, inadvertently talking louder and louder. "Their lives are on the line here! We have to try!"

The Commander stares down at the floor, curses quietly…then looks back up at me. "Fine. You take Wrex and Garrus and go get Ash. Tali, Liara, you're with me to get Kaidan. We'll bring the Normandy around for you as soon as we can!" Holy shit, she actually went for it…this is it. We can get them both out. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

With that, Shepard, Liara and Tali turn to run back to the elevator, and Wrex, Garrus and I break into a sprint down the walkway towards the tower, bursting through the doors and down the ramp, sound of the waves crashing below us somehow adding to the urgency of the situation as Garrus frantically presses the 'call' button for the elevator.

"_You shouldn't have split up to get me, Ian!" _Ash's voice says into my earpiece, accompanied by the sounds of gunfire. "_It's too risky, like Shepard said!"_

"No-one gets left behind," I reply firmly, as the elevator finally arrives. "It's too late to change our minds now, anyway. We'll be there any second!"

"_Then hurry! The geth are almost past our defences!" _The line goes dead…just as the three of us pour out of the elevator and emerge right behind the geth. Here we go.

I unclip two grenades from my belt, one for each hand, and hurl them forward as fast as I can, one catching a geth destroyer on the back, another hitting the ground between two ordinary troopers. Time to blow the element of surprise…but catch them in a pincer attack. I detonate the explosives, reducing the three geth to scrap metal as Garrus, Wrex and I dash to the nearest pieces of cover. The four remaining geth whirl around to face us…but two go down from fire from the salarians and Ash, along with a triumphant whoop over the radio from the Gunnery Chief herself. I Overload one, letting Garrus finish it off with some well aimed handgun fire, while Wrex blasts one multiple times with a shotgun, in the typical and brutally efficient krogan fashion. That leaves one geth against about six or seven angry organics.

It doesn't even last a second.

"Not every day you get three men in shining armour coming to your rescue, is it?" I say into the radio, grinning over at Ash who I can see chuckling lightly from across the way.

"_You cocky cock," _she laughs, as we walk towards her and the salarians. "_Good pincer attack, though, I-"_

A sudden blue explosion next to me knocks me off my feet and crashing down on my back, along with a sudden yell of alarm for Garrus and a deep growl from Wrex. No…no way…I look up into the sky, and my worst fear slowly descends.

Saren.

I spring back up to my feet and dive behind the nearest crate, mind awhirl with thoughts. This can't be right! He's supposed to go after Shepard, not _me!_ The turian sends another biotic blast, which narrowly misses Wrex, and leaps down from his hoverboard thing, not even breaking step after the ten metre drop. Bastard knows how to make an entrance…

I lean out, both pistols drawn and arms crossed to reduce recoil, and fire as fast as I can. I fire until both pistols overheat, and keep pulling the triggers afterwards. Nothing. All the shots just stopped by his biotic barrier. I duck behind the crate again, as the Spectre laughs lightly and steps forward to talk.

"I was expecting Shepard, not you," he laughs disdainfully. "The human from C-Sec I met all those years ago. Funny, how life can be so circular."

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," I shout back. "Snapped your bloody neck in Pallin's office!"

"One, I'd like to see you try, and two, you had no reason to. I cover my tracks well, as your investigation probably found out." Arrogant motherfucker… "This has been an impressive diversion from your Commander, though. My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat."

I laugh humourlessly back. "You've worked it out a bit late. This place is rigged to blow and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Maybe not, but I'm not letting you walk out of here alive. I can't let you disrupt what I've accomplished here," he replies. "You couldn't possibly understand what's at stake. None of you could."

"_Ian, we're getting Kaidan and the wounded back on the Normandy and headed your way, ETA five minutes, maybe a bit more," _Shepard's voice crackles through my earpiece. At least Kaidan's safe…but five minutes with Saren? Not a fun prospect.

"Try me!" I yell back at Saren, then turn my attention back to Shepard as he starts monologuing. "Saren's here, Shepard. Five minutes might be too long."

There's a pause on her end. _"Shit," _the Commander finally says. _"Keep him distracted as long as possible. We're coming as fast as we can."_

"Alright," I say back, cutting of the call and turning my attention back to Saren. Just got to keep him talking…

"…the Protheans tried to fight, and they were utterly destroyed," the ex-Spectre finishes. "Trillions dead. But what if they had bowed to the Reapers? Would the Protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?"

"Not if it meant becoming their mindless slaves! Not if it meant giving up freedom!" I shout. "They've done it to you, but it won't happen to us!"

"This is why I couldn't tell the Council," he says, shaking his head despondently. "Organics are driven by emotion, not logic. We fight, even when we cannot win. But if we joined with the Reapers, think how many lives we could save!"

"You wouldn't be saving them!" I shout. How can he be such an idiot? Oh yeah, indoctrination… "Just dooming them to a life of servitude!"

He glares at me furiously. "No! It's why I joined Sovereign, to save them, even though I knew the…risks. I hoped this facility would protect me."

"You're think Sovereign is influencing you," I reply, locking eyes with him. "Actually, fuck that, Sovereign _is _influencing you!"

"The more control he exerts, the less capable I would become," he responds. "He needs me to find the Conduit, so my mind is still my own."

How naïve can you be? "Yeah, for now! How long until you outlive your usefulness, Saren? These things are ruthless!"

"I will not let it happen to me," he says, but is that…doubt creeping into his voice?

"It has!" I yell. "If you've got any free will left, any at all, then fight! Sovereign might try ways to bring you under his control, but you have to resist while you're still useful to him!" Ooh, I'm hinting at the implants there…which I shouldn't know about. Fortunately, Saren doesn't pick up on it. Probably because he doesn't know about them.

"I try to stay free, as much as I can, but this isn't about me!" Saren shouts, taking an angry tone yet again. "The success of the Reapers is inevitable! I'm forging an alliance that will save more lives than you can imagine, yet you would undo my work! You, your Commander, the rest of your crew, doom us to complete annihilation!" Oh shit, I know what's coming next…I draw both my pistols, take a deep breath, and make a signal to Garrus and Wrex. Get ready to fight.

"And for that," Saren finishes. "You must die."

"Not if we get to you first!" I shout, diving out and firing both pistols at his shields. Garrus unleashes an Overload, which weakens their integrity, while Wrex unleashes shot after shot from his weapon. Ash joins in with assault rifle fire from where she's camped, but Saren seems impervious to attack, hurling out biotic attacks without any seeming effect on his stamina.

Shit, both my pistols are dead, again! I holster them…just as Saren pushes a crate at me with incredible force. Shit! I hurl myself prone, literally feeling it pass over the top of my head as I clamber back up to my feet. Bullets aren't having an effect, sniper rifle is going to be useless at this range…only one crazy idea left in the tank. I grab my knife from the sheath, Saren's attention currently focused on Wrex rather than me. Maybe he though the crate got me, I dunno. But this is my chance. I grip the knife by the blade, and bring my arm back into a throwing position.

He's not moving. Wind is calm. Here goes nothing.

I hurl the blade as hard as I can, and it's dead on target. Time slows to a crawl as I watch it fly, straight at Saren's head, where shields aren't gonna stop it…just as the Spectre turns around, lifting up a talon to shield his face with almost superhuman…superturian reactions. The blade pierces through, but he yanks it out with a grunt of effort, and turns his attention firmly on the unarmed me.

SHIT.

I move to run to the side, but a biotic blast sends me stumbling slightly…and Saren's right in front of me in seconds. I launch a punch at his chest, making a solid impact, and duck under his counter right hook. Jab him in the face with the left, uppercut to the jaw with the right…Saren staggers back, and I launch in for the attack. Right hook…which he dodges by leaning back slightly, grabs my wrist as I follow through, and twisting it with his talons. Hard.

There's a huge snap, and my entire being explodes in pain as he keeps twisting with one talon, grabbing me around the neck with the other and lifting me clean off the ground. The pain is almost unbearable, as the edges of my vision start flashing…and out of nowhere, the vision begins to flash up, merging with reality. The Reaper screams, death and destruction, all the time with Saren's face in the background…until he finally loosens the talon holding my wrist, and everything returns to normality. With the turian looking directly into my eyes.

"Did they just change col-" he start saying, until a fist to the face accompanied with a grunt of effort from Ash causes him to drop me and take a few steps back. I land, instinctively putting my wrist out to break the fall…the pain of which almost knocks me out again. I can feel the armour locking up around the wrist, to stop me moving it, and as I clamber back up to my feet I can see Ash fighting Saren.

She delivers an absolutely stunning roundhouse kick to his face, which I still find impressive through the haze of pain as I clumsily reach for my left pistol and take aim. Fuck, no way I can shoot without risking hitting her…Saren's on the counter-attack, catching Ash with a quick punch, but she ducks under the follow up and punches him in the face again. She's kicking his ass! Saren steps back away from a kick from her, bringing his arm all the way back…then suddenly rushes at Ash and punches her in the stomach, getting a yell of pain from Ash as both of them hold the position. What the fuck?

Then, I see it, and my heart misses a beat.

The ends of Saren right talon emerging from her back.

With a grunt of effort, he pushes her off, red blood staining his right talon as the water around where Ash is lying slowly begins to turn crimson, and summons his hoverboard with a quick button press on his omni-tool.

No. No, that didn't just happen. Ash is gonna get back up, say it's just a flesh wound…

She's still lying there. No movement. Saren's laughter filling the air. I turn to him, pistols in hand, and feel pure rage as he jumps onto the vehicle. The coward's running. He's fucking running!

"YOU FUCKER!" I yell after him, firing round after round, almost all of which fly wide. "I'M COMING FOR YOU! YOU'RE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!" The laughter slowly dies away as he makes his escape…instead replaced by the sound of the Normandy's engines overhead. The rage leaves me as quickly as it came, and I dash over to where Ash is lying, Garrus and Wrex following close behind.

"Oh, God, Ash…" I say, the three puncture marks around the chest of her armour losing copious amounts of blood. "Just hold on, the Normandy's coming. You're gonna be okay, just hang on…"

Ash smiles weakly up at me, coughing up a bit of blood. "We both know that's not gonna happen, Ian."

"I tried…I tried to save you," I say quietly, feeling my eyes moisten slightly as I talk. "I did everything…"

"I know you did," she says lightly. "Guess we'll never get that sparring rematch, huh?"

"I'd have had you this time," I say, trying to laugh, but it turns into sobs instead. "Come on, Ash, just hold on a bit longer…" The Normandy's finally touched down behind me, and I can hear Shepard shouting as she runs down the ramp towards us. "This doesn't have to happen…"

"Some things do, Ian," she replies softly. "I guess this was just my time. And don't you cry for me. Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

Ash narrows her eyes. "Kill that son-of-a-bitch for me. Someone's got to stop him."

"I promise," I swear, meaning every word.

"Good," she sighs, looking up into the sky, peaceful expression on her face. "Funny, I always expected some kind of white light or something…" Her eyes slowly begin to close, and no matter how hard I shake her they don't open again. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams body is limp in my hands.

I barely feel myself picking her body up, running back into the Normandy as it takes off, the gasps from crewmembers and silent prayers from some as the medical team makes it way down.

The plan failed. I failed.

God, Ash…I'm so sorry.

**A/N: She died a hero.**

**I realise that some people will be thinking of all the wonderful canon changing possibilities if she'd survived (so was I) but the point of this is to show, how matter how hard you try, some things just never change. Note 'some things'. There'll be at least one very big change by the end of Masses to Masses 2…trust me on that.**

**Next chapter, character interactions on the Normandy, dealing with Ash's death, and the build-up to Ilos. No, it's not gonna be an angst filled fun-fest. Don't get me wrong, there's gonna be a hell of a lot of sadness at Ash's death…but she told Ian not to cry for her. So don't worry, Ian won't be locked up in his room for the entire chapter mangsting like with Rebecca. It's not how I'd deal with it.**

**On a surprisingly upbeat note, given the end of that chapter, we broke 700 reviews! Thank you, as always, to everyone who reviews, and everyone who reads this thing as well. You keep me motivated, even with everything school and life can throw at me. So, once again, thank you.**

**I'm on holiday from Monday to Wednesday, so review replies may come a bit late. But they will come.**

**Until next time!**


	32. Ian vs The Three Little Words

Chapter 32

Jesper Kyd: Ezio's Family (in memory of Ash)

**A/N: The song's got nothing to do with the chapter…it just seems right considering Ash died last time. It's a beautiful bit of music.**

**This chapter takes place several hours after the escape from Virmire. So most of the angsting has already been done…as will be explained.**

**Much conversation awaits! And, maybe, just maybe, some romance. Enjoy!**

"She died a hero," Shepard says firmly, making eye contact with every one of us as we sit in the usual circle in the briefing room, one chair conspicuously empty. Jesus…after everything, I still couldn't save her. I shed my tears for her when we brought Ash's body back on board, along with some others in the crew, but now a few hours have gone past Shepard's called everyone together for the debrief. I'm still sad…but the angst has gone. She wouldn't have wanted that.

It's horrible. Horrible, because I lost another friend. Horrible, because I don't know what I did wrong. We split up to rescue both crew members, and God knows I tried to kill Saren…but he didn't die in-game, and definitely didn't kill a crew member. So, was it fate, or something? What if some things are so core to this universe, so integral, they can't ever change? Or what if I change something so big, it ruins everything? Like, for example, Shepard not dying in the Collector attack. The whole deal with Cerberus would probably never happen, the Alliance and Council would have their heads too far up their own asses to do anything about the human colonies…and we'd probably have a human shaped Reaper on her hands as well.

This fucking sucks. The one time I try to change something for the better, it still doesn't work out, and it wasn't even my fault! Hell, I tried to _kill_ Saren! And I almost did! How much would that fucked up this universe?

No, I'm just making myself angry. Need to stay level-headed. It's happened now, and I can't blame myself. I can put it down to fate, the laws of the universe or whatever…but frankly, there's one person who caused this. One turian ex-Spectre with ridiculous mandibles.

Saren fucking Arterius. Normally, I'm not big on revenge…but given everything else he's done, he bloody deserves it now. For Ash's sake. And everyone else's, for that matter.

"Ashley Williams gave her life so that the mission could succeed, saved her friend and comrade in battle," Shepard briefly glances over at me, and I bow my head slightly in memory. If it wasn't for Ash, I'd probably have had the talon through the stomach rather than her… "And I'm going to my damn best to make sure that's made clear in her record and at her service. But if Ash would have wanted one thing, it would be that we didn't just give up if she died. She'd want us to finish this. And that's exactly what we're going to do."

Bloody hell, she is good at these pep talks…normally I don't go for these types of things, but Shepard's words ring oddly true. If Ash caught me angsting over this, she'd probably laugh. Then beat the shit out of me for fun.

"I'm not saying forget about her," Shepard continues. "God knows we'll all miss Ash. But Saren's still out there. The person who killed her. And we will not stop until he's brought to justice. Understood?"

There's a round of strong nods around the circle, and a fairly quiet 'hell yes, Commander' from Kaidan. He probably knew Ash best out of all of us, actually, so I can't imagine this is hitting him soft. Especially since he escaped where she didn't. That would feel awful.

Shepard brings her hands together, smiling slightly, presumably at the response we've given her. "Good. As it stands, we know that Saren needs the Mu Relay to help him find the Conduit."

"We don't know where the Mu Relay leads him to, though," Tali points out. Spot on, there…God, how do we find that out, actually? There's been no mention of Ilos yet. "Without that, we're no further than before."

"I might be able to help," Shepard mutters. "The second beacon we found in Saren's lab…it's hard to describe, but I think it completed my vision. I've been thinking about it, and there's definitely more there now. Liara, you might have better luck interpreting it then I've had."

"If you are sure, Shepard," Liara says, rising to her feet. "I will look. You are familiar with the melding process now?"

The Commander grimaces slightly. "Way, way too intimately. I hate doing this." Hell, that makes two of us, though I haven't 'embraced eternity' for a while, thank Christ. Even the visions have been dying down slightly, now I'm on the Normandy, and becoming more bearable…the one when Saren broke my wrist (now patched up by a fabulous bone weave from Chakwas) was the most recent, though I did wake Garrus up two or three nights ago with one in the crew quarters. Then again, he's more than used to it by now.

Liara chuckles slightly at Shepard's comment, then grabs her shoulders and locks eyes. "Sorry. Embrace eternity!"

The two stand there, eyes glazed over slightly, Shepard's body rocking back and forth slightly as she relives the vision. God, it's so awkward when people meld in the middle of the room…you want to say something, but it just feels so wrong. I glance over at Garrus, raising an eyebrow, and the turian just shrugs back in return. Just got to wait it out, as usual.

Liara and Shepard finally break apart, a look of shock and recognition on the asari's face. Garrus picks up on it straight away. "What?" he asks hurriedly. "What did you see?"

"There were these landmarks," Liara replies unsteadily, "in the vision…I know the planet they belong to. Ilos. I studied it as part of my Prothean research, but it's only accessible through the Mu Relay. We didn't know where that was, but…"

"Saren does," Wrex finishes. "So whatever he wants is on the planet." Oh, so this is how we find out about Ilos. That's…convenient.

Kaidan leans forward in his chair, making eye contact with Shepard. "Then what are we waiting for? We know where we're going. Let's head to the Relay and cut him off!"

"You think the Council are just gonna let us run off like that?" I ask, glancing over at him. "I mean, normally my attitude is more or less 'fuck the Council', but this is big now. Plus, that Relay's in the Terminus Systems. Alliance ships are about as welcome there as scale itch on a varren."

Shepard nods slightly next to me. "As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point. Saren could have an entire geth fleet following him, and we won't be able to take them on ourselves." The funny thing is, we kinda will… "We need to contact the Council, tell them all about this, and get reinforcements. That said, if they don't help, I won't hesitate to go there. I just think we should try and get as much help as possible first."

Kaidan nods, seemingly satisfied, and leans back in his chair. "I'll try and get through to them now," Shepard says. "Crew dismissed." I rise to my feet, and subconsciously can't help looking over at Ash's empty seat, still half expecting to see the Gunnery Chief giving me a grin back, knowing we're going to finally stick it to Saren…but nothing there. I sigh. I'm gonna miss her, alright.

Before I can even make it to the door, though, Joker's voice comes through and into the room. "_Got a transmission from the Council for you, Commander. Patching it through now." _The pilot sounds really bad, actually…he's not taking Ash's death well, at all. Then again, don't really think any of us are. Just because I'm not in tears doesn't mean it's not tearing me up.

"Saves you a job," I say dryly, looking over at Shepard who smirks slightly as she turns to face the Council members. Including the turian. Oh, hello Velarn. He's looking angry as ever. I wonder who pissed in his coffee this morning…

"_Commander Shepard," _the asari says warmly. _"I'm pleased to see your mission on Virmire was a success!" _ The turian makes a comment about the destruction of krogan, as I sidle out of mic range slightly and stand next to Garrus.

"You alright?" the turian whispers to me, as Shepard points a finger at Velarn and says something in an angry voice. "You looked pretty torn up about Ash when you brought her back on-board, and you two were pretty close, so, er…"

He's obviously pretty uncomfortable talking about this, though I can't say I blame him. "Yeah, I'm fine," I mutter back. "But it's weird without her, you know? She wouldn't want us all walking round in black crying, though. I'm moving on. You?"

"Pretty much the same," he nods. "I know what you mean about it feeling weird. I just try not to think about it too much, not when all this is at stake now."

"We're not doing a very good job at not thinking about it, are we?" I reply, getting a surprisingly loud chuckle that draws the attention of the salarian councillor for a second. Whoops.

"I guess not," he finally whispers, as the salarian looks away again. I swear he's rolling his eyes under that hood… "Looks like this is it, then. Whether the Council do something about this or not, I'm betting this all ends on Ilos." Ooh, he's pretty close…actually the Citadel, but there's no way he could guess that.

I nod idly. "You ever imagine we'd end up here? After Pallin first gave us the job to investigate him?"

"Spirits, no," he grins, shaking his head. "Glad it did, though. We were never going to catch him from a desk on the Citadel, though I can see myself going back to C-Sec after this. If we leave the ship, anyway." That's a shocker! I genuinely wasn't expecting that…

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Shepard and I've been talking about it, and I think it's best. She made me realise that sometimes, the rules are there for a reason, and I can do good work."

"I should get that on a recording," I grin. "Garrus Vakarian saying 'the rules are there for a reason'."

He smiles back, punching me on the arm. "Screw you." I glance back over at the Shepard and the Council members, fully expecting to see Shepard trying to right hook Velarn's hologram…but wait, is she _smiling_? Oh, this I have to listen to.

"A multi-species effort to face Saren?" Shepard asks, incredulously. "I'll make tracks to the Citadel at once." Oh, it's just the Council feeding us that bullshit line to get us back to the Citadel…damn it. Then again, at least I know that Anderson's gonna get us out.

It probably wouldn't work if I tried to change this anyway…

Oh, man up, Ian! Saren's the one responsible, not me. If we're gonna stop him, and keep the balance of the galaxy in check, I need to keep a lid on it and go with the flow. The saying 'only dead fish go with the flow' comes into my head when I think that, but I just ignore it as the transmission with the Council ends.

"Joker," Shepard says, looking up at the intercom, "how long until we can reach the Citadel?"

"_Not long, Commander, a few hours at the most_," Joker replies quickly. It's amazing what we can do with spaceships these days…

"Good," she nods. "Alright. I'll go and see the Council myself once we touch down, so the rest of you take some shore leave while I'm there. I think we all need it."

Got that right.

##########

My omni-tool beeps quickly as I approach Kaidan's workspace, catching me by surprise a little as I walk. Barely anyone has my contact details, so…I open it up, envelope with smiley face on staring back at me as I do. Ah, I don't regret getting that icon pack at all…oh, it's from my bank, automated message. Ten thousand credits deposited. I grin slightly, as the Lieutenant turns to face me. Good old turian honour.

"Hey, Kaidan," I say. "Look, I'm really sorry about Ash. I know you two were pretty good friends…"

"Thanks, kid," he interrupts, "but don't. You were just as good friends with her as I was. You don't need to apologise for it. We're gonna miss her…let's leave it at that. Maybe if I hadn't set that nuke, she'd still be around."

"Come on, Kaidan," I say gently. "Don't say that. We did everything right to rescue her. It was Saren, not you, not me."

He nods. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't make it any easier, though." There's a mutual silence between us, then he lifts his head back up to look at me, and his eyes and expression are a bit cheerier now. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I dunno," I shrug. "I mean, it feels like we're coming to the end of it all now. There can't be much left after Ilos, right?" Kaidan nods. "So…I guess I just wanted to say thanks."

Kaidan looks confused. "For what?"

"For being a mate," I smile. "You're a good guy, Kaidan." I mean it, too. He might have seemed a little flat in-game…but playing a video game does nothing to prepare you for meeting someone in real life, his little nuances, the true extent of his personality…too bad he'll totally fucking blow it on Horizon. But he's good for now, I guess. It helps to forget about people's futures when I talk to them.

"No problem, kid," he replies, grinning a little bit. "And you're not too bad yourself. The whole crew's great, actually. I mean, I'm not anti-alien, by any means, but I wasn't expecting relations to go this…smoothly, I guess." Huh, probably a bit _too _smoothly in some cases, considering his feelings about Garrus and Shepard…but I'm not gonna bring it up.

"I reckon most of us are," I say. "I mean, C-Sec, I initially had my worries about working with Garrus, whether or not we'd get along, all that stuff. But putting a load of humans, then a turian, a krogan, an asari and a quarian on board? And everyone getting along? It's like a minor miracle."

Kaidan chuckles a bit, leaning back against the console he was using. "I guess so. Alliance brass'll probably be more amazed than both of us combined. Maybe we should start hiring more aliens?"

"Aye, I bet they'll love that," I say sardonically. "I imagine Shepard'll let anyone who wants to stay on after we've finished this whole Saren business, but I can't see the Alliance rolling this out everywhere else. It's human military, after all."

"True," he nods. "So, does this mean you're thinking of staying onboard after we're done?" Oh, God…the thing is, I _am, _mainly because I imagine Garrus is gonna want to for a bit if everything with Shepard works out. Though that's kinda reliant on him growing a pair and seeing her before Ilos.

Though that's somewhat hypocritical, since I haven't told Tali about my feelings for her…

Oh, shit, Kaidan's still looking at me expectantly for an answer. "Yeah," I finally say. "Don't expect me to join the Alliance officially, but this place feels kinda like home now. Crew's sorta like a family, as well." I frown apologetically. "Not trying to be corny, or anything."

"Don't worry about it," he laughs lightly. "It doesn't surprise me you'd say something like that anyway, about family. You seem to get along with just about everyone on the ship, plus you and Garrus could be brothers if you weren't different species."

"That is a bit of a barrier," I reply. "But yeah, I'm gonna miss everyone here if we part ways. Wrex'll probably go back to Tuchanka, which is a bit crap, Tali back to the Flotilla…"

"I bet you'll be torn up about that," Kaidan says in a rather offhand manner, so much so I almost don't realise what he's said. Then it dawns on me.

How the fuck does he know?

"What exactly are you trying to insinuate?"

"Wrex told me," he grins. Oh, that gossipy son-of-a-bitch! Urdnot Wrex is off my Christmas card list…

I shake my head. "On second thoughts, Wrex can fuck off back to Tuchanka. I don't care. I didn't even realise you two talked!"

"From time to time," Kaidan shrugs. "If you don't want to Tali to go, give her a reason to stay, kid."

I give him a confused look.

"Tell her how you feel," he continues, sighing at my confusion. "Life's too short to have regrets. We should all know that, after Virmire." He's got a point…and Ash does serve as a bitter reminder that life really is too short, and _way _too dangerous in our line of work. No regrets. Kaidan might just be right.

"You know, old man, you might just have something there," I smile slowly, nodding my head. "That's the kinda thing Garrus ought to hear." Fuck! That just slipped out!

Kaidan immediately narrows his eyes slightly. "Yeah. That." God, he's pretty serious about the whole Garrus/Shepard thing, though knowing Kaidan it probably isn't malicious. He's either genuinely concerned Garrus is distracting her…or he's hiding his own feelings for her. Kinda like Eddie in 'A View from the Bridge'. But way less fucked up. "I oughta to get back to finishing this report off…so I'll talk to you later." Nice, Ian, completely killed the conversation. It's like a superpower.

"Later," I smile, turning around and giving Kaidan a little wave as I walk off towards the elevator. Garrus can sort out his own love life, even if I might have to give him a little nudge in the right direction. Actually, knowing Garrus, he might need a good kick in the backside rather than a nudge, but frankly my own love life's more of a concern at the moment.

And, albeit begrudgingly, I can only think of one person to talk about it with.

########

"Ian," Wrex mutters, barely looking up as I stride towards him

"Don't be coy with me, you bastard," I say, walking towards the krogan and trying my best to sound angry as I do. "You told Kaidan about me and Tali!"

"Oh, that," he grunts. "Anyone with half a brain cell could work it out, I just wanted to make sure he knew."

I roll my eyes at him. For a feared krogan battlemaster, he's far, far too much of a gossip. "How noble of you." The krogan just chuckles in response, and shuffles to the side slightly to give me enough room to lean against some crates.

"Bad business about Ash," he mutters, shaking his head slightly. "She was an impressive warrior. Had a bigger quad than a few krogan I know."

"I'm sure she'd have loved to hear that," I reply, laughing, albeit a little bit humourlessly. It feels a bit weird talking about her…but it's better than people descending into tears every time her name's mentioned. Remembering her in a good way. "I'm surprised that you're praising her, though, given that she was going to shoot you in the back of the head."

He shrugs. "She had her reasons. Protecting Shepard. Besides, she didn't, so it's not important." That's…actually a pretty interesting philosophy. I'm not sure if I was expecting him to hold a grudge or something, but it feels right that he's not.

"True," I admit. If anything, I suppose I did change one thing for the better on Virmire, since Wrex wouldn't be here now if I hadn't intervened. At least that's something. "You two did seem to get along quite well, when you weren't pointing guns at each other. Shared love of battle, and all that."

"Ash was interesting from a krogan point of view," Wrex begins explaining. "Our women are kept separate from the rest of the clan, and the men do all the fighting. But she was more of a fighter than some krogan think they are, like I said before. Saren's going to pay for what he did to her, mark my words."

"I think we can all agree on that," I nod. "With any luck, Ilos should be the end of this, after we ask the Council for reinforcements." Close enough, anyway…

Wrex growls lightly. "Screw the Council. Every second we spend away from that planet, Saren and his Reaper get one step closer to their goal. Something seems off about this whole inter-species effort to stop him, anyway. The Council have done nothing to help us before. It's weird that they're starting now."

"You might be right," I shrug. "But we don't know until we ask. I could do with one last shore leave on the Citadel, anyway. Got ten thousand credits to spend."

"The turian paid up, then?" Wrex chuckles. "Good of him. I can't believe I'm saying it, but I might actually miss that bastard once all this is over."

Wrex missing Garrus? Now there's something I didn't expect… "I'm sure 'that bastard' will love to hear it," I grin. "Not staying on for the long haul with Shepard, then?"

"I think my people need me, back on Tuchanka," he replies. "We need a united krogan, and I've got ideas to make that work."

"Never had you down as a politician."

"Krogan politics are a lot different to what you're used to, trust me," Wrex laughs, voice rumbling around the hangar. "Besides, my brother Wreav is next in line for the leadership."

Huh, I never actually found out what Wrex thinks of his brother, as far as I can remember… "You two don't get along."

"Put it this way," Wrex says. "Wreav's a fucking idiot. If Urdnot falls under his control, I'd be too disgusted to go back to Tuchanka."

"You have such a good family history," I sigh, getting a glower from Wrex. "Anything you want on the Citadel while I'm gone, then? I'm buying a new helmet, but that's not gonna cost ten thousand."

"This gear's kept me alive for hundreds of years, I think I'm fine," he replies, grinning slightly. "Besides, you'll want to save some if you go through with what you were saying before I interrupted you on Virmire."

Eh? I said a lot of shit on Virmire…_oh, _now I remember. That. "I haven't even asked her yet, Wrex."

"And I thought you had a quad on you," he grunts. "You can fight hordes of geth, varren, jump out of a Mako in mid-air, take a krogan's headplate off, and you can't talk to one quarian? It's pathetic. You're worse than Garrus."

"Fuck you!" I reply quickly, rising to my feet. "I've got a quad! Metaphorically speaking!" Wrex just looks at me cynically. Right, that's it! I'm sick of putting this off! Kaidan's right about giving her a reason to stay, Wrex's right about me being a bloody coward about this, and if Ash's death should have taught me one thing it's that life's too short to put anything off. I've gotta do this now. "I'm asking her now. Just you bloody wait." I catch Wrex's grin as I turn around, stride down the stairs and into engineering.

Then I realise I've got no fucking clue what I'm going to say.

Shit. Wrex totally played me.

Before I can back out, though, Tali catches sight of me, and gives me a little wave. Just gotta be honest about my feelings. How hard is that?

"I can't believe that Ash is gone," Tali says, lowering her head slightly as I stand next to her and the drive core. Maybe now isn't the best time… "I mean, I always knew it was dangerous, but never thought we'd lose anyone…" I see her eyes lock with mine behind her mask, as she takes in my expression. "Sorry, I'm being morbid…"

"Well, you and the rest of the ship too," I shrug. "It's a war. We'll keep fighting, but not forget what she gave. Forget what she was like."

"That's a good way of putting it," Tali nods, eyes still locked with mine. Oh God, I'm getting kinda nervous about this… "So, what brings you down here?"

"Nothing!" I reply, far too quickly. Tali's body language shifts slightly to surprise. Shit! "Nothing important, just wanted to come down and see how you were doing."

The quarian folds her arms slightly, leaning back against the guard rail. "I'm not important, then?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant at all…" I can hear her faintly laughing behind the mask as I wind myself up more and more. Goddammit! "Maybe I should just stop talking, digging myself a bigger hole."

"Don't, I'm only joking with you," Tali chuckles. "I'm doing fine, in answer to your first question. Everything with the Normandy's going great, and I'm just getting ready for Ilos. Mentally, anyway. Keelah…I wasn't expecting all this when I first came to the Citadel with that information I found on the geth. All the missions, meeting you, everyone else on the ship."

"Yeah, pretty big surprise…" I say, feeling like a bit of douche for lying like that. I knew all this was coming, for the most part…but it doesn't make it any less special meeting everyone in the flesh. "C-Sec to saving the galaxy. That's a big step-up in the career ladder."

"More for me," Tali says. "I'm not even an adult, in my culture."

I grin slightly. "What, are we trying to make a competition out of this, now?" Tali laughs, shaking her head. "Besides, I doubt quarians can say you're not an adult. Not after everything you've accomplished out here."

"Well, I've had plenty of help," she replies a little shyly. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't killed that turian in the alley, anyway."

"You're still hanging onto that, huh?" I ask. "Besides, we were rescuing the evidence against Saren, not you." Hope she takes that as a joke, like I meant it…

"Charming," Tali laughs. Oh, that's a relief. Could have backfired horribly. "Seriously, though, you've, erm…been a really good friend."

Right, this is it. Moment of truth, Ian. I came in here with the intention of being honest…and this is the perfect opportunity. Even if she just said 'really good friend'. What if I ruin it by doing this? What if she's not interested? Months of friendship ruined in one stupid moment.

But I can't keep it held up, especially with her return to the Flotilla so close. Sometimes in life, you've just gotta to take a leap of faith. She can't say yes if I never ask.

Plus, Wrex'll laugh his ass off if I go back through there without saying anything.

Right, fuck it. I'm doing it.

"You've been a really good friend, too, Tali," I say quietly, taking a slight step towards her. "When I said I wasn't down here for anything important…I might have been lying. I wanted to talk about us." Her body posture's shifted, head tilted slightly as she looks at me…but she's not trying to interrupt. That's good, right? "Getting to know you over these months, the high points, the low ones, it's not important. It's made me realise that, well…I guess what I'm trying to say is-"

"I love you," Tali finishes for me, taking a step closer to me so we're almost touching. "Is that it?"

_Oh._

"Yeah," I finally say. "That." There's a massive awkward silence as we both look at each other, feels like it stretches out for hours…God, I haven't blown it, have I? Fuck, I knew taking Wrex's advice was a bad idea…someone's got to say something. "Tali, are you saying that…"

"I don't know. Maybe, but I'm not sure if it'll…well, I say I don't know, but…" the words go faster and faster, almost blending into one another, and suddenly she stops and looks straight up at me. She's so cute when she's nervous… "Yes. I think so. If we're thinking the same thing."

"I reckon we might be," I say, feeling a smile coming onto my face. "Tali, I'm thinking I love you."

Tali lightly puts one of her hands in one of mine, and even though I can't see her face…I can tell she's smiling too. "We are, then." I feel a sudden rush of euphoria, and I know I'm grinning like an idiot as I pull her into a hug. She said yes.

Even after everything wish Ash, all the shit we've had to go through to get here…suddenly the day got a whole lot better. We stand there for a few seconds, as I silently thank any and all gods that no-one else from engineering is in the room, before we finally break apart and Tali fiddles nervously with her hands.

"Can this even work?" she suddenly says, sounding worried. "I mean, we're different acid structures, I can't take the suit off, I don't know what my people will think…or yours, for that matter." Shit, she's having jitters…just like I remember it in-game. "I don't know if we should do this. I can't make you happy. Everything intimate happens outside the suit, and there's ways it can be simulated but…I want this to be real with us. Feel your skin on mine. But we both know that can't happen. I can't make you truly happy, Ian."

I should have known this was coming, the speech about her worries…the fact she cares too much. About me. About us. That she's worried nobody can see past the mask, that she's not good enough.

I need to get show it's not the case. That she's more than good enough. That this is exactly what'll make me truly happy.

"Tali," I say calmly. "I really don't give a shit what my people think. I never thought this was going to be easy, not with all the differences between our species, the suit…but it doesn't have to be physical. I know it sounds corny as hell, but as long as we're together, I don't care about the rest. I love you. That's what matters. We can make it work. You've already made me the happiest I've been for a long, long time by saying yes. You can make me truly happy, Tali. You're doing it right now." We've stepped closer together again, almost subconsciously, and I hold both her hands in mine.

"We both love each other, Tali. So we'll find a way. No matter what it takes."

"I…" she whispers, stumbling over the words as we look at each other. "Thank you. For seeing past the mask. For…for everything." We stand for even longer, and the two eyes I can faintly see behind the mask tell me everything I need to know. It'll work. I'm sure of it. "So," she finally says, breaking the silence, "is this the kind of moment where we'd kiss, normally? I mean, I can't, but you know…"

I nod, still smiling. "Yeah. It is." And I lean down slightly, planting a light one on the face mask. The feeling that we're together, that she loves me back…it's utterly indescribable. "So, there's one last shore leave left before Ilos. I was wondering if you want to, you know…"

"Ian," Tali says, "are you asking me out on a date?"

I nod, smiling. "Yep. That's the one."

"Of course. I'd…I'd love to," she replies, as we still hold onto each other. God, this moment could never end and I'd be the happiest man alive… "Where would we go?"

"Leave that to me," I grin, thinking of a few places straight away. I know somewhere for food, plus one place with beautiful views over the Citadel… "I'll decide on somewhere, and send it over to your omni-tool. We can meet up once we get onto the Citadel?"

"Sounds good," Tali nods happily. We're still holding onto each other, and as much as I don't want it to end, we have to break apart eventually. It's a mutual thing, as both of us let go, and take a step back. "I'll meet up with you then, I suppose. I think I have some…research to do."

"I'll leave you to it, then," I nod, feeling on top of the world as I slowly walk backwards towards the stairs, still looking at her. Tali keeps the eye contact too, as she slowly turns to her workspace…then I'm around the corner, and she's gone.

I practically skip back up the steps into the garage, smiling like a loon but not caring at all.

Tali and I are in love. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

**A/N: Well, it's finally official, even if it was blatantly obvious quite a little while back, I suspect. So, Ian and Tali are now an official couple. Ain't it sweet?**

**Next chapter, there's still plenty to cover. Namely, the reaction of a certain asari…and the Normandy reaches the Citadel for some armour upgrades and a date. AWESOME!**

**So, to quote Toby Turner, bless your face! And see you next chapter!**


	33. Ian vs The Rejection

Chapter 33

Daryl Hall & John Oates: You Make My Dreams

**A/N: For the love of God, listen to the song. If it doesn't make you smile, even if it's just slightly, you have no soul.**

Goddamn, I'm in a good mood.

Really, really damn good. Even after everything on Virmire.

The look on Wrex's face after I left engineering and gave him a grin probably helps. But, far more important, Tali and I are in love. And I want to shout it from the Citadel rooftops.

I mean, obviously I'm not going to, that'd be incredibly rude. This isn't _Anchorman, _for God's sake. But as I stand in the elevator up from the garage, whistling a happy little tune to myself as I go, the temptation is still firmly there. I mean, initially I was just gonna ask her out on a date…but the 'l' word already?

It makes sense, though. For a normal couple, living in a city or something, that's probably unheard of. But Tali and I…we've been basically living together for two months already, seeing and talking to each other just about every day, and we were firm friends in like the first few days of joining the Normandy. If that's not prime conditions for falling in love, well…I don't know what is. Look at Garrus and Shepard. Well, maybe just Garrus, since I'm not sure how she feels about it, but whatever. I don't care! I'm so happy right now!

I could get some celebratory ice-cream…oh, snap, it got stolen, didn't it? But even robbed ice-cream can't put a dampener on my mood. That said, if I find out who's been taking it, so help me God I'll snap them like a twig. Unless it was Wrex. In which case I'll probably just pretend not to have noticed. Besides, plenty of time to buy some more.

Which reminds me…got plenty to do when we touch down on the Citadel. Get the new helmet, definitely buy some ice cream, maybe a shield to go around it or something…and most importantly of all, work out exactly where Tali and are going. I mean, I told her I'd sort it, but that was totally in the heat of the moment. I've got no bloody idea where to go.

Ah, I'll just make it up as I go along. It worked well enough for romance back there. It does feel incredible, knowing she feels the same way about me as I do with her.

Unless she was just saying she loved me on the spur of the moment…fuck you, paranoia! Tali's far, far too genuine to do that. Plus, stripping it down to the core, she used something similar to her romance dialogue in Mass Effect 2. Comparing it to the game like that makes me feel pretty bad, actually…though it is quite reassuring.

Yep. Even with Ilos on the horizon, and all the implications of that, nothing is gonna bring my day down today. _Nothing._

The lift doors finally open, to Liara looking straight at me.

FUCK.

"Oh, Ian," she says, sounding surprised. "This is quite the coincidence. I was just looking for you, actually."

"Really?" I reply, trying not to sound nervous but doing an appalling job. Thankfully, Liara doesn't seem to pick up on it. Crap, I hope she hasn't heard through the scuttlebutt about me and Tali…then again, how could she? The only person who kinda knows is Wrex, and there's no way he could have told Liara. I sure as hell didn't tell her, unless I had some kind of _Heavy Rain _style blackout and did something I don't remember, and I highly doubt Tali sent her a message about it. So, in short, I need to calm the fuck down. "Why's that?"

The asari gestures over to her room/lab, obviously not comfortable talking in an open environment like this. Kaidan's in his usual spot, occasionally stealing glances at Garrus and Shepard on the Treysonic…yeah, I'm not sure I'm comfortable here either. "Well, I've noticed that normally you like to come and talk, but you haven't done so," she explains, as we walk. "So I thought I'd find you instead. I quite like our conversations." Yeah, nothing to worry about. Just a normal chat. Actual, there is one thing to worry about...I don't know her romance dialogue from the game…so if we accidentally lapse into whatever her version of flirting is I won't even notice.

"Same," I nod, as the door slides open and we walk into the relative privacy of her quarters. "I kinda got caught up talking to some of the other crew members downstairs. You know, given everything that's happened recently. First Ash, now we've finally got Saren's objective location nailed down…"

"Yes. It's a terrible shame about the Gunnery Chief," Liara says sadly. "Though at least we're finally closing in on Saren, as you say. I never expected my Prothean studies to prove so useful in the way they have…"

"Makes all the trouble of studying for a degree worth it, then?" I grin, as Liara leans idly against her chair. Huh, she's actually got a laid-back air about her today. Probably from hanging around everyone else on the ship. Good to see.

Liara shakes her head, smiling. "Actually, it wasn't that much trouble. I passed all my exams with full marks." Oh, snap! "Not that I'm trying to gloat, or anything," she adds quickly.

"No, course not," I reply. It's still kinda funny how she gets so worried so easily. "Believe me, that's far from gloating. You want to see people lording over others because they're 'high achievers', go to an Earth high school."

"You weren't good academically?" Liara asks curiously.

"Didn't say that," I smile. "Just didn't feel the need to shove it in people's faces at any opportunity, that's all. So, you excited about going to see Ilos first-hand?"

Liara frowns a little. "In a way, yes. I never though I'd set foot on the planet…though with geth shooting at us and Saren after the Conduit, it is hardly perfect conditions."

"True," I chuckle. "Maybe after everything with him's over, you can go back there, do some more research." It's sad, actually, knowing that she'll never be able to do something that nice…Feron, the Shadow Broker and whole horde of other factors will see to that. And she can kiss her innocence goodbye. That, however, is something I _really _can't interfere in. If Mass Effect: Redemption never happened…we'd all be fucked come Mass Effect 2. Frankly, no Shepard, no galaxy.

"I think I would like that," she nods. "Though…there is no guarantee that this will all end well for us. I mean, with everything that's happened, Saren, the Reapers now…perhaps it would be naïve to assume we will just 'breeze through', as the idiom goes." Wait, is Liara having doubts about the mission? No! No way! You are not getting me down today, girl! Or yourself!

I shake my head firmly. "Don't think that. With luck, we'll get reinforcements from the Council," I silently think 'like fuck we will' to myself when I say that, but keep talking anyway, "and even if we don't, we've got Shepard, Wrex, everyone else, me, if that counts for anything…we'll stop him, Liara."

"I would like your confidence," she admits. "And I admit, I want to stop Saren more than anything. For what he did to my mother. Though he himself is indoctrinated. I suppose I feel a little…sympathy for him." Sympathy for Saren? After what he did to Ash? I'm sorely tempted to bring that up, but decide against it. Probably not what either of us needs right now. "But, since I'm not sure if we will all make it out, I think some things have to be said."

Okay, paranoia's flaring up again. If I know Liara, that sounds awfully like the kind of thing she'd say romance related. God, put her off… "We'll make it, Liara," I laugh, albeit nervously. "Don't worry about it."

"No," she says, starting to sound more and more nervous. "Ian, I'm not quite sure how to put this, but over the time we've spent on the Normandy, in talking to you, how you helped me after my mother died…I think, I-"

"Liara," I interrupt quickly, looking her in the eye. I can't let her finish. Work herself up like this. Goddammit, I shouldn't have let it get this far already. "Tali and I are in love. We're dating. I know what you were going to say…and I'm sorry. I really am. Maybe in another life, or whatever…but I have Tali. So, if you have feelings for me, then…" Liara's face is falling more and more as I speak, and it's feels _terrible _to keep on talking like this, but she has to know the truth. "Then you have to forget them. It can't happen between us. I still care for you as a friend, a really good friend, but it won't go beyond that."

Liara just stares at me for a few seconds, expression almost…distraught. God, the day was going _too _perfectly, wasn't it? No rejection is painless, but Christ, she's taking most of the pain here. And I should have stopped this, way, way earlier. Then, finally, she sniffs slightly, shakes her head and looks up at me.

"I had no idea," she says, but her voice has taken a slightly cold edge. Uh-oh. "You and Tali?" All I can do is nod helplessly, as Liara lowers her head and whispers quietly to herself. "Damn it, Liara, you should have seen this coming…" her head finally snaps up to look at me. "I'm sorry."

"Liara, don't apologise," I say, trying to be reassuring. "We can still be friends, right?" But the words are kinda empty, given what she just admitted, and I think we both know it.

"Yes," she replies, almost absentmindedly. "Friends." We stand there in awkward silence for what feels like a long, long time. Shit, should I just leave? Maybe that'd be best. I'm about to make a move, when Liara opens her mouth again. "I have some final specimens to study before we reach the Citadel, and…things to consider. So, I will see you later, Ian."

At least that's my ticket out, even if I feel pretty shit after that. Damn it…it's not my fault she has feelings for me, but it is mine that it got this far in the first place. Then again, when was I supposed to reject her? When she was grieving over Benezia? Too bloody complex… "Yeah. Talk to you later, Liara."

I practically sprint out of the office, mind set on finding some corner to hide in until we reach the Citadel.

##########

"She's coming for you, Ian! Ian, run! RUN!" Garrus yells in my ear.

"Garrus," I say calmly, turning to face him. "Would you kindly calm the fuck down? It's just a game." I turn back to the wall-mounted screen, just managing to hit the dodge prompt that flashes up on my half of it to dodge some crazy mutated woman zombie's rush attack. Yeah, hiding in a corner didn't really work out. When I left Liara's lab, Shepard had left the room for some reason, so Garrus was more than happy for me to play co-op on _Galactic Terror Six _with him instead of Shepard. So far, we've been on it for _hours, _so we should be arriving at the Citadel…well, any time now.

I'm painfully aware of how close it is to Liara's place, but the logic is hiding in plain sight. Or something like that. Besides, I can't let what happened in there get me down. Tali and I are in love, and Liara'll just have to deal with that. Though hopefully 'dealing with it' doesn't involve breaking every bone in my body with biotics.

"We've failed this section five times already, Ian," Garrus mutters, as he headshots two regular zombies with one shotgun blast. He's spent far, far too long on this game with Shepard, since he's an absolute pro at it. Better than me, even, and considering this game is basically _Resident Evil 5_, which I was brilliant at (not that I'm trying to toot my own horn) is no mean feat. "Because that one sub-boss rushes us when we don't run away."

I shake my head, quickly bringing up my inventory screen to check my ammo count. Woeful, as usual. "Listen to Mister Competitive," I tease. "Besides, it wasn't my bloody decision to ramp it up to the hardest difficulty, was it?"

"I enjoy a challenge," Garrus says. "No point playing something you can win eas- fuck!" The screen suddenly stops and focuses on Garrus turian character, who's now ran out of health and is getting involved in one hell of a gory death scene. There's biting, tearing…good lord, that's ugly. "I was on full health! How are you supposed to heal!"

"I suppose that's the sound of enjoyment," I reply dryly, leaning back and selecting 'retry' on the game over screen. "I think the idea is you're not supposed to get hit. Hence why you couldn't heal."

"You're full of it today, aren't you?"

"That's because," I point out, "I'm not the one dying."

Garrus sighs, shaking his head as the game starts up again at the last checkpoint. "You're in an oddly good mood, though. What's happened?" Crap, should I tell him about me and Tali? I imagine people are going to find out anyway, since Liara and Wrex already know…plus Garrus is my best friend. Course I got to tell him!

"Well," I explain. "First, ten thousand credits got deposited in my bank account, which is always nice." Garrus growls lightly next to me, but I just ignore him. "And, I managed to solve my romance woes with Tali."

"Whoa, you two are dating now?" Garrus asks incredulously. "Good for you. Does this mean I'll have to rein in the teasing now, or she'll get you to beat me up or something?"

"That would not be a good fight," I mutter. "Especially since you've got reach and I've got flexibility."

"Let's not go there."

"Agreed. Though, seeing as I've admitted my feelings to Tali…that only leaves one of us, no?" Suddenly, there's the sound of a shotgun blast from the speakers, and my character's head goes flying off. "Hey! Friendly fire's on!"

Garrus chuckles lightly next to me. "Whoops. Forgot."

"That's a really mature way to deal with your problems," I sigh, spamming the select button to restart. "Doesn't solve anything, though. When are you going to do something?"

"When I'm ready," he mutters. Oh, I'll bet…at this rate, he won't be ready for another two years.

"Why is it that whenever people say that, normally it just means 'never'?" I ask innocently. Garrus swivels to look at me, mandibles widened slightly. Might have hit a nerve there…

"She has a lot to deal with already," he says. "The Council now, Ilos, stopping Saren and the Reapers…maybe if she'd come to me. But I can't put that on her. Not with everything going on already."

Oh, come on! I refuse to take this shit. "Garrus, you can't just wait for everything to come to you, yeah? What if she never asks?"

"Then I'll be fine with it."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Really? I very much doubt that. Lie to me all you want, Garrus, but you can't lie to yourself."

"I…" he begins, then stops himself and looks down at the floor. "It's complex. Just let me deal with it my way."

"Whatever," I say back. If he's really not sure about it, it's wrong of me to force him into it. Despite what I'd like. "I ought to get down to the garage, anyway. Need to grab my armour."

"Why?" Garrus asks, sounding a little confused. "I thought you were just buying a helmet." I suppose no-one's invented the sliding helmet yet…good thing Visceral Games were on the ball literally just before I got taken here.

"I am," I grin. "But it's not exactly classic design. Laet should be able to sort it, right?"

The turian nods, laughing lightly. "Yeah, sure. If you've got the credits. Can you not finish this game before you go, though?"

"Sure," I reply, switching to the rocket launcher and blowing his character into multiple pieces. "Game's finished. Talk to you later, Garrus."

I hear him faintly uttering some turian curse at me as I walk away from the game, from what I can tell the turian equivalent of 'bastard' given the amount of times he's said it. It's more of a clicking noise rather than actual speech, but I still get the gist of it. Kinda sounds like the Poleepkwans from District 9…then again, that's hardly the only similarities they share with turians, I guess.

Right. Let's get down to the garage again, so I can grab my armour, and hopefully look up the helmet design for Dead Space 2. There's got to be some pictures of it _somewhere _on the extranet, even it's old as hell by now…

#########

Nothing. Searching for the term 'Dead Space' brought up a ton of random results, including some tacky horror film, going off the reviews for it…but no sign of the game franchise. Shit. That can't be good, can it?

There's very, very few things that don't exist here that did back in my time, obviously the main one being the Mass Effect game franchise…but hell, even BioWare still survived, though the marketing focus was on their other franchises. Dragon Age was huge back then, apparently. Casey Hudson was still around, too, though from what I can gather he ended up being a successful sci-fi movie director rather than creating Mass Effect. Good for him.

The problem is, though, all this stuff doesn't exist as forms of media because it exists for real around here. And now Dead Space hasn't appeared. It must be because of those necromorphs Saleon made on the Fedele…God, I seriously hope we don't see any more of those bastards. All the necro's went down with his ship, though, so I can't see that happening. Fingers crossed.

The more immediate problem it left me, though, was no helmet design. So, for the last hour before we touched down, I put together some fairly competent sketch of what it should look like, from memory, highlighting the various sliding bits. Not gonna lie, as I look at the drawing clutched in my left hand as I stride through the Citadel's streets, it's not exactly professional. But hopefully it'll suffice.

Arriving on the Citadel itself was smooth enough, and there was actually a crowd of people at the airlock waiting for shore leave when I got up there. Then again, it's been pretty non-stop for a while, especially after Virmire…so I can see why people might be after a break, however short. Tali was the only person notably absent, though that's because I sent her an omni-tool message briefly before asking to meet up in the Presidium two hours after we touched down. I don't exactly want to bore her by dragging her shopping with me, after all.

So far, about half an hour's gone past as I round the last corner towards Laet's place. Normally, I like to pace it walking about…but today, I'm in no rush. I still need to find somewhere to take Tali, after all. Restaurant seems too clichéd just by itself, but there's nothing on at the vids, since Blasto hasn't come out yet…so I'm frantically looking around for _something. _ Definitely go for food…but I can't think of something is pretty bad, since I did live here for two years, but I guess the pressure's giving me a mind-blank. I just don't want to blow it. Especially on the first bloody date.

The door into Laet's shop slide open, almost silently, yet the bored looking turian immediately snaps his head up when it opens, the bored expression quickly changing into a wide mandibled smile when he sees it's me. "Well, if it isn't my favourite customer!" he says happily. Eh? "How are you doing?"

"I'm good, thanks," I say slowly, still not quite sure whether or not he's taking the piss. "Favourite customer? Have I missed something here? Is that because I'm the _only _customer?" It's true. The place is empty except for Laet and I.

"Very funny," he chuckles. "But no. That contract you got me," he explains, still smiling away. "Not only have I been taking contracts for your armour repairs and needs, your Commander got herself involved too, presumably from seeing the fine craftsmanship on yours." I laugh, leaning against the counter as Laet eagerly chatters on. His enthusiasm is bloody infectious, and I love it. "Then, presumably the Alliance wondered why she'd done that, and took a look into it themselves. So now, I've got a contract from them for a branch of special forces!"

Oh, wow, now that is something! "What branch?"

"N7," Laet says proudly. Wait, now _Laet's _making the N7 armour, thanks to me making one contract with him? That's bomb! "So, yeah, you're my favourite customer now. You wouldn't believe how much money these guys are paying for this work. Then again, I'm worth the price."

"Well, it's no problem," I say, still thrown by the revelation slightly. "Happy to help. When you say I wouldn't believe how much they pay…what, is it like fifty thousand credits?"

"Kind of," Laet replies, still sounding pleased at punch. "It's about fifty thousand, yeah. But that's per _suit._ And I'm making a lot more than one, trust me. I ought to buy a new place, or something, since I'm…what's the human idiom? 'Rolling in it?'"

"Aye, that's it," I grin. "Well, good for you, man! Makes what I'm in for seem like small beans compared to that."

Laet looks confused. "Small beans?"

"Don't worry about it," I shrug. "Got a helmet design for you. Take a look at this." I slap the datapad down on the table, which the turian looks at carefully for a few seconds.

"All I'm seeing is a pretty crudely drawn helmet," he finally says, smiling at me. You can see why he and Garrus are friends... "I think I see what you're trying with it, though. Looks quite good. But what's with all the arrows?"

I heave up the armour case and bring it down on the counter. "That's the beauty of it. This isn't just a stand-alone helmet. I figured, it you can fit all the parts into the actual armour itself, it can slide out in different bits that turns into a helmet. At least, in theory." Laet looks at me like I'm crazy, then back at the diagram. God, maybe it was a bit much of an ask…

"Yeah, I think I can manage it," he suddenly says. Oh, wow. That's awesome! "Should only take a few hours, but that kind of thing ain't gonna come cheap. Full face heads-up display behind it, all the sliding mechanics…"

"What, even for your favourite customer?" I ask, going for the charm approach.

"Favourite or not, I still gotta make a profit somehow," Laet grins. "I can probably sort this for about six thousand credits, for parts and labour. Though, given that you were struggling for cash last time you were here..."

"Don't worry about it," I reply, bringing up my credit chit. "Garrus is bankrolling it. I beat him in a bet."

Laet laughs out loud, flanging voice bouncing off the walls as he takes the chit off me. "A bet? Poor bastard still likes to gamble?"

"This wasn't exactly your average wager. I had to shoot two krogan in a row, in the eye." Laet looks pretty impressed at that. And so he should! "What do you mean, _still _likes to gamble?"

The turian runs the credit chit through the system, then hands it back as he shakes his head. "Garrus used to like the quasar back when we were on Palaven, whenever we got the opportunity to play it. Even though we shouldn't have, since we lost about all out damn money on it. Actually, that gives me something else to thank you for, as well. Reintroducing me to him. We've been keeping in touch since you were last here?"

Now there's a turn up for the books! "You two talk? He told me about your shop, you know, I didn't bring him here. Frankly, I'm still amazed he didn't mention you the first two years I was around here."

"We hadn't talked for a while when I came here," Laet shrugs. "He and his father moved onto the Citadel well, well before I did. We kinda lost contact then. I guess he must have just noticed I had a shop recently, and come to see it with you."

"You two were good friends back on Palaven, then?"

"Yeah," Laet nods, smiling a little fondly. "We were just kids back then, but we lived right next to each other. Same school, same part of Palaven…we were bound to become friends. It's funny, he's gotten older, but his personality's still practically the same. Even back then, he had a pretty similar sense of humour. Knack for getting into trouble, too. Like this whole mission with the Alliance you two are on."

Ha, he hasn't changed much…there's something else for me to bait him with if I get bored. Because friends are for winding each other up, right? "I wouldn't call saving the galaxy against the geth threat 'getting in trouble', but whatever. So, he's told you about the mission?" I'm not sure that's exactly ideal, since it's almost certainly confidential…

"Everything he can," Laet says. "I mean, obviously it's mostly confidential, but he can say how many geth he's killed today, stuff like that. But we just talk mostly, reminisce, that sort of thing. We've still got about fifteen years where I didn't see him to catch up on." As he talks, the turian grabs my armour case and lays it on the workbench at the back of the room.

"Fifteen years?" Bloody hell…then again, Garrus is in his later twenties, and if memory serves from what he told me all that time back he moved to the Citadel when he was finishing school…probably about thirteen then. Plus, if they were that young, how was he playing quasar on Palaven? They must have snuck in, or something..."I can imagine one conversation won't cover that."

"Yeah," Laet nods. "It's good, though. I mean, I thought I had some good stories from my military service, but him…and then all the stuff at C-Sec with you he keeps hinting about. Makes this job look pretty crap in comparison."

I laugh. "Believe me, you're getting paid a hell of a lot more than I ever have, plus you're not having a near-death experience almost every day. Be grateful. Garrus's military stories…let me guess, has reach and flexibility cropped up yet?"

"He's told you too, then!" the turian chuckles. "Yeah, something like that. Among other things."

"Well, good that you two got reunited like that. Besides, any friend of Garrus's is a friend of mine."

"Same here," Laet grins. "Look, Ian, I should probably get started on this, since they'll probably want you back at your ship at some point. Sooner the better, right?"

I nod, feeling a little sad the conversation's over. I really like Laet, actually, he's kinda like a second, slightly more up-beat Garrus…then again, I still need to find somewhere for Tali and I to go. And meet up with her on the Presidium. I get a happy little buzz when I think about meeting her, but try and suppress it. Don't want Laet thinking I'm mental. "I guess so. Good talking to you, mate. Even if you took six thousand of my credits."

"It'll be worth it!" he shouts over, as I walk out the door. "I promise you that!" Given the job he's done on my Dragon armour, plus the fact he's now producing N7 armour, I can believe it. Who'd have though one contract would end up having such an effect…

I stare up at the rooftops, at the stars, as if praying for some kind of inspiration. Even if I'm an atheist. There's got to be somewhere nice, out of the way, somewhere I know and that she's gonna like…

And then I realise I'm literally looking right at the answer. Rooftops…not these ones in particular, but I know a place. Even if it's got other memories already, but I'm past that. Goddamn, it's perfect.

This whole night is gonna be perfect. Perfect weather, thanks to the Citadel's artificial climate, perfect places to go, and the perfect person to spend it with.

This ought to be good.

**A/N: Yeah, wanted to get those character interactions in before we left it for this instalment, plus the Tali date deserves a chapter to itself. Because important stuff shall happen! As for Ian's new helmet...if you haven't play Dead Space 2, and want to see what it's like, here's the link (remove spaces): **http :/ / www. youtube. com / watch ?v=bKpRkw-pUXw

**You should also watch Tobuscus's Dead Space 2 Literal Trailer. Cos it's bomb.**

**I know, right, I updated **_**before **_**a week's gone by? That's because I didn't go on holiday this time around. And all my coursework is done. Sure, I've got exams to revise for…but feeling far less pressurised. Yay.**

**Plus, that hopefully fleshed out Laet a bit more?**

**Oh, before I forget, there's some Masses to Masses fan-art, courtesy of Ashunra and DontFeedRatKids! I've been meaning to give a shoutout for a while now, but keep forgetting. SORRY! Here's the link to them (remember to remove the spaces):  
****DontFeedRatKids: **http : / / dontfeedratkids . deviantart .com / # / d39yx7y  
**Ashunra: **http : / / ashunra. deviantart. com / # / d39kg3b  
**My DeviantArt (all the fan-art's in the favourites, plus other stuff): **http : / / inf3ctionz. deviantart. com/

**Almost 800 reviews as well! Thanks everyone!**

**Until next time…**


	34. Ian vs The Date

Chapter 34

Snow Patrol: Crack the Shutters

Rooftop – Snow Patrol: Signal Fire

**A/N: Sorry in advance for any mistakes that may exist. Not saying they will, just sorry in advance. Pre-emptive apologising.**

I glance down at my omni-tool clock absent-mindedly, sitting on a bench in the middle of the Presidium and taking in the sights around me. Hell, it'll probably be the last chance I get to see it looking just as it does now…fountains and the water itself sparkling in the dull light of the Citadel's night cycle, where the stars do about as much illuminating as the street lights.

Alright. Maybe turning up about twenty minutes early wasn't such a great idea.

Then again, I didn't want to leave Tali waiting as opposed to me…plus it'll give me some time to consider exactly where she'll want to get food. There's plenty of dextro and levo restaurants knocking about for us, but I'm not exactly gonna drag her someone she doesn't want to go. We'll just browse as we walk along. Yeah, that ought to do it.

Actually, something about this location seems awfully familiar…the exact view of the Presidium I'm getting at the moment sparks my memory somehow, but something's missing. Two salarians talking…

Holy crap, this is like exactly where I came onto the Citadel! I was sitting here almost two and half years ago, freaking out and running around like some kind of idiot! It's almost funny, considering everything that's happened here, how this has simply just become my life…but weird all the same. Funny sense of circularity to things, anyway.

And the rooftop, too. Christ, is that really the best place to take her, considering that's where Rebecca and I went? Then again, I don't know anywhere better on the Citadel…and tonight's not about Rebecca. It's about me and Tali. She'd have wanted me to move on, and I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better. It's the truth. I knew her well, and she wouldn't want me hanging onto a ghost.

Oh, great, now I've gotten myself really morbid, with fifteen minutes left to go. It's gonna be a great night, we'll go back to the Normandy and grab my armour, head to Ilos, and kill Saren. Simple as. I deserve one last chance to enjoy myself before the final mission, for now. Hell, we all do.

I take another glance around, drinking in the surrounding…then doing a double take as I catch a quick glimpse of a purple visor and extremely familiar exo-suit. Hey, it's Tali! And she's early too, thank Christ. I give her a wave, and she hurriedly walks over to me. What's the rush?

"Keelah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting," she says apologetically. Really?

"Don't worry about it," I grin. "That's exactly why I'm here early. Didn't want to keep you waiting myself." Tali laughs lightly, body language becoming less tense. "Relax tonight, Tali. It's just you and me."

"I'll try," she replies, a little shyly. She's so cute when she's nervous… "So, where are we going?"

I quickly glance around at all the shops, restaurants and such flanking the Presidium, as well as all the routes in and out. "I've narrowed it down to food…but I've got no idea where. Figured we could just walk and look at the places we go past that do levo and dextro food?"

"That sounds nice," Tali nods, as we walk off towards the edges of the Presidium. "How many places do both our food, though? Inter-species couples aren't exactly…common."

"Maybe not," I shrug, "but plenty of people in different species hang around together. Turian and a salarian going for a drink, maybe, or some kind of business meeting between lots of different species over food. Plus, asari and turian couples _are _pretty common."

"That's true," she admits. "I did some checking, you know…we wouldn't be the first quarian and human couple. People have managed before us."

Hey, that's good news! "Tali, that's great!" The quarian nods, but there's not exactly much conviction about it. Hmm… "I mean, what did the rest of the Flotilla think about it?"

"It varied," Tali explains. "The first ones were made outcasts from society." Shit, that doesn't exactly sound promising… "But that was the same with all species at first. There's still a fair bit of tension around the whole thing, I suppose whatever your species is."

"Unless you're an asari," I point out.

"Good point," Tali laughs. "But, as time's gone on, my people have become more…tolerant of it. That said, quarian society relies on us all acting for the greater good, er…" crap, she sounds nervous. "And there aren't any humans on the Flotilla. The couples that do exist all moved away from the Flotilla, the others just broke it off and returned."

That wasn't exactly what I was hoping to hear. "Tali, I can't stop you completing your Pilgrimage, or doing what you want, even if it's returning to the Flotilla." I bloody wish I could, but I'm not going to wreck her life.

"I can finish my Pilgrimage, then return to the Normandy," she says, after a brief pause. "Maybe it's seen as a little selfish among my people…but I want to be selfish. Just this once. I'm not sure how my father would react to it, but he would eventually agree, I think. Yes. This is what I want."

I feel her hand slip into mine as we walk along, three fingers fitting surprisingly well into my five. Her suit material feels really nice, smooth…I know she can't exactly feel my skin, but I give her hand a little reassuring squeeze. Though the fact she's talking about her father rings alarm bells. Shit, just put it to one side! "Good to hear," I nod. "I want this as well."

We walk along in a nice silence for a few seconds, as I glance at the restaurant next to us…shit, that's a levo only place. "Your suit weave is really nice," I comment, then feel like face-palming. Fuck, I know she hates the suit! I imagine just about every quarian does! Tali, however, seemingly takes it in her stride.

"Thanks," she replies, a little shyly. "I'm sorry about bringing up the whole thing about the Flotilla, anyway. I just did the research, but I wasn't trying to kill the mood."

"You'll have to do a lot more than that to kill my mood, trust me," I laugh lightly. "It's good you looked it up, anyway. I mean, we need to take this step by step…it's not gonna be easy, a human and quarian. But people have done it before. It's good to know." I have been thinking about it a bit, actually…romancing Tali in-game, there wasn't any risks. Everything, naturally, went just about perfectly. But now, in reality…there's a lot we need to be careful about. Take it slow. But it's more than worth the patience.

"Yes, it is," Tali nods. "I never thought it was going to be easy. But there's things I can take to bolster my immune system, herbal compounds, that sort of thing, so I don't have to be in the suit all the time…"

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Don't have to be in the suit all the time? Shit, you don't hang about. It's only the first date."

"No, no!" she gasps. "I didn't mean it like that! I just thought that, oh, Keelah…" I crack a smile that gets wider and wider as the she works herself up more and more, then can't help breaking into a laugh as she stops and puts her hands on her hips, looking at me. "You knew I'd get flustered."

"Yeah," I laugh. "It's cute. So, what did you mean it like, then?" We start walking again, as our hands weave their way back together.

"I just…want be able to do what other couples can, maybe," she explains. "I trust you, and, well…I want you to be able to see my face. Even if it's just once."

Wow. That's actually a hell of a honour for her to say, and I feel a little bit of euphoria in the pit of my stomach. "Tali, I'm flattered…but you have to be absolutely sure about this. I mean, we've been basically living together for two months, but this is only the first date. We've got plenty of time. Besides, do you actually have any of these immuno-boosters?"

"No," she say, shaking her head. "But I can get some, it shouldn't be too hard. You're right, though, we'll have plenty of time, after Saren…I don't intend on this being our last date. It's weird just to think about, though, taking it off, maybe kissing…I've never kissed a male before."

"Same here."

"Good to know," she laughs. "What about there?" Tali suddenly asks, pointing towards a white-fronted, _very _posh looking restaurant. Christ, the smell coming out of that place is gorgeous…and I'm seeing turians, humans and other species in there. Looks like this could be our place, if she likes the food.

"Sure," I nod happily, as we make our way towards it. "I wonder if they do any of that paste we've got back on the Normandy for you?"

Tali shakes her head. "Don't. Don't even joke about that stuff." We both look down the menu, handily split into different acid groups...bloody hell, it's expensive here! Then again, I've got four-thousand credits left from Garrus, which should easily cover anything. So, since he's buying…hello, beef burger with rosemary and garlic chips? (**A/N: Fries, if you're American**) This place is probably human run, though from Tali's body language the dextro menu is pretty good as well. Maybe it's a collaborative project with human and turian chefs or something? Cool. Well, I know what I'm getting.

"Anything here doing it for you?" I ask, as Tali looks at the food on offer. I can faintly see her eyes behind the visor…and they seem particularly bright tonight. Yeah, she's probably picked up on something.

"Oh, yes," she says, very enthusiastically. Oh good. "Keelah, I didn't even realise you could get food like this!"

"Well, we should probably get a table," I point out, as an asari and salarian stand behind us. "Because it looks packed, and if we don't get a seat, I am not gonna be happy."

"That would make two of us," she comments dryly. "Let's see if we can get a seat. There's something I want to talk to you about, anyway, since we've been talking about the Flotilla and me so much."

Eh? "And what might that be?"

"C-Sec," she says firmly, as we walk up to the asari who's taking care of front of house, and assigning tables. I see a little flash of surprise as she takes in the sight of a human and quarian holding hands, but fair play, it's gone again in the blink of an eye, replaced by a professional smile. Well played. "Garrus was 'talking' to me the other day about whether or not I'd had any experience with red sand."

"That's a funny thing for him to ask," I muse. "Why?"

She shrugs. "I think he wanted to see if quarians could actually take it. Our immune systems seem to be a bit of a joke to him, for some reason." The asari steps forward to greet us, though, so I should probably save my reply until _after _she's done talking.

"Table for two?" she asks, voice clipped and efficient. Just enough warmth to be welcoming, without enough to be too personal. They trained her far, far too well. "It's busy tonight, but we should be able to fit you in. This way." With that, we follow close behind her, through an absolute maze of tables and conversation, until we finally reach one empty table towards the back of the room. Fortunately, the place is basically made of glass, meaning we get a nice view of the Presidium rather than a solid wall. Nice.

Tali and I sit down, menus laid out ready, as the asari walks away. Damn good service, I've gotta say. Impressive. "So, Garrus and red sand," I say, getting back on our conversation. "I don't know what it is with him and quarians…I think he just likes winding you up."

"He does a good job," she mutters. "But anyway, I told him I don't know that much about red sand, just what it does, but not why it's such a big issue, and he said that I should ask you since you might 'have some stories to tell about it from C-Sec'."

"Oh, God, that was a while back," I say, leaning back in the chair and looking up slightly, trying to jog my memory. "You really want to hear this?" Tali nods enthusiastically. "Well, I suppose given everything you've told me about you, I at least owe you this. We know what we're ordering, right?" Another nod. I'm feigning like this a chore, for some reason, but I'm actually kinda looking forward to being able to open up with her about me for once without having to worry about the damn backstory…

Great, now just thinking about the backstory is making me painfully honest of the face I've not been completely honest with her. And now, we're dating. We're in a relationship, and I'm lying.

Get it out of your head, Ian! Greater good! I think back to the story, trying to get it out of my mind. "Alright, then. It all started early one morning. Garrus and I had been out at Flux, he'd got absolutely hammered and was subsequently hungover, but we got an omni-tool message from Executor Pallin…"

########

"…so, next thing I know, I've woken up with this salarian doctor standing over me, a chest scar, and the horrible feeling I owed Garrus a drink. And that, I think, is that. Though I skipped out a lot of the paperwork bits."

Tali laughs, leaning forward in her chair lightly. Our food arrived unbelievably quickly, absolutely phenomenal beef burger, and Tali seemed to love whatever it was she ordered, and I've managed to tell the whole tale in about an hour. Tali was driving it forward more than me, frankly, constantly asking little questions and stuff…it was really nice. I've got a glass of Coke next to me I'm almost done with, but our plates have been and gone, and frankly a burger that size doesn't leave room for pudding. However nice it could potentially be. The place has emptied out somewhat, though, so the staff don't seem to particularly mind us just sitting here and talking.

"I always thought C-Sec was supposed to be boring," Tali comments, "but the way you tell it…"

"Believe me, that kind of thing was pretty rare," I say quickly. "And the amount of bureaucracy we had to deal with afterwards is making my writing hand hurt just to think about it. Not a bad job though, looking back. Well, except dying."

"You got better, though," the quarian laughs. "I guess it gave you a headstart on all the fighting we've had against Saren."

I nod. Imagine if I'd tried to join up with Shepard before C-Sec…God, I'd have been dead in the blink of an eye. "A much needed headstart. It's not even that surprising Garrus and I ended up on a mission like this. Trouble just seems to look for us, or he drags me into his."

"Did he drag you into the mission?" Tali asks, teasingly. She's got a lot more confident and relaxed as the night's progressed, and it's really good to see this side of her. I was expecting a bit of a deal about a quarian and a human having dinner together…but apart from the odd glances, nothing. Huh. People are more tolerant than I thought. Or they just haven't worked it out.

"Oh, no," I quickly reply. "I wanted to do this, and I think he was gonna throw in his lot with C-Sec anyway. We just met Shepard at a remarkably good time, and hunting down a crazy turian ex-Spectre beats C-Sec any day."

"It's not how I imagined my Pilgrimage going," Tali admits. "But…it feels right." I nod along with her. I actually know what she means…then again, I know what's gonna happen mostly before it does. "Doing something for the galaxy, meeting all of the crew. Meeting you." Ooh, corny…but I still smile on hearing it. Just because it's corny doesn't mean it's not sweet. "Did you see many quarians when you were younger?" she asks, somewhat suddenly. Shit, talking about the past…normally, I can just lie around it and ignore what I'm doing, but tonight I'm feeling so dirty for it. Every. Single. Time.

"No," I say simply, breaking eye contact with her uncomfortably. There's a slightly awkward silence, not good on a date! "Do you want to head out of here? Shepard's probably meeting the Council any time now, and there's something I want to show you before we get back to the Normandy?"

"Okay," Tali says, sounding a little surprised at the sudden change. "Where is it?"

"Surprise. Trust me, you'll enjoy it," I grin, as both of us rise to our feet at the same time. "You don't have some massive phobia of heights you've been hiding, do you?"

"No…" she replies. "Are we going onto a rooftop? To see the view?"

Shit, she's too good! "No!" I exclaim, but my facial expression obviously gives it away as Tali laughs.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil the surprise," Tali says apologetically. "I'd love to see it." It's not far from here, now I think about it…maybe like a five minute walk or so. Probably less.

Man, this has been a good night. Food, conversation…and it's amazing spending time like this with Tali. Now, time to round it off.

#########

"That ladder is quite high," Tali points out, as we stand at the bottom of the building and look up at the top. I swear this place has actually gotten taller since I was last here…but it's still fine to climb.

"Trust me, it's worth the climb," I say, stepping to one side and sweeping my arms to the ladder. "After you." Tali chuckles lightly, then steps forward and plants a foot on the first rung. I let her get a bit ahead, then leap up myself and start the slow ascent. I take a quick glance around as I climb…the Citadel does look great. Too bad it's gonna get wrecked way, way too soon, so I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.

"Nice view," I mutter, somewhat absent-mindedly.

"Men," Tali sighs from above me. Oh, wait, that didn't sound like what I meant!

"No, I was talking about the Citadel!" There's a brief bit of laughter from Tali above me. "Really!" I don't think she's buying it. Oh well. Just as I legitimately glance up, Tali disappears over the lip of the roof, and I clamber up and onto solid ground behind her. Bloody hell, it hasn't changed a bit.

Lights shining literally all over, from the tiny pinpricks of stars out in space, the street lights down below, reflecting off all the different coloured buildings and casting a mosaic style pattern onto the vast area below us. Calm air…and silence. That's the beauty of it. Barely anyone comes around to this part of the Citadel, or lives here, so we can just watch the world go by in silence.

"You weren't lying when you said it would be worth it," Tali says quietly, as we both towards the edge together and sit down, legs dangling over the edge. Yeah. This would be a terrible time to develop vertigo. "I've…never seen anything like it. The little time I spent here was in some of the more undesirable areas, so to see it like this…"

"Two sides to just about every major city," I say, putting an arm around her shoulders, albeit a little hesitantly. Tali doesn't seem to mind, though, leaning in against me slightly. "Everywhere's got its bad bits…the Citadel just happens to have some really nice ones as well."

"Yeah," she nods. "They tell you all these things when you leave the Flotilla, what the rest of the galaxy is supposed to be like, but it can't prepare you for this kind of thing. What about you? What did they tell you about the Citadel when you were on Earth?" It's actually becoming a real struggle to lie, now, the closer Tali and I get, the harder it is to do it…

I look away slightly, guilt forcing my head. "Not much."

Tali suddenly pushes away from me slightly, folding her arms and staring into my eyes. "What is it about your past that makes you so uncomfortable?"

Shit. "Nothing. It's just not the most exciting section of my life, that's all," I try. Come on, Tali…

"No, that's not it," she protests, rising to her feet now. "Every time we talk about it, you just dodge the question or give me a two word answer. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I…" I start saying, trying to think of an excuse, then just shut my mouth again. The one night my past should stay buried, and it keeps coming up over and over. "It's complicated."

"Ian, we're in a relationship. We're supposed to be able to trust each other, right?" Tali presses. She's a far cry from the shy, anxious Tali I see so often on the Normandy…then again, this is serious business. "I trust you enough to want to show you my face. You trust me enough to tell me what's bothering you, right?"

I just stand there in silence. I want to say something, some lie to make it all right…but I can't. Can't think of one, and even if I could, I don't think I'd be able to say it. Not now. "Forget it," Tali sighs, lowering her head slightly. "I shouldn't be rushing you like this. Maybe it's too early for that level of trust." The quarian just stands there, not looking like she's going to come back over.

I just blew the date. I might have just lost Tali in a relationship. Thanks to this fucking secret!

The whole setting draws my mind back to Rebecca…I lost her because I couldn't warn her about Saleon, couldn't protect her. Ash, who I tried to save, but if I'd warned her that splitting up was bad idea instead of trying to change it myself, maybe she'd still be breathing. All the people who've died needlessly, like Fai Dan, because I keep fighting for what I think's the 'greater good'.

Now, though, I'm having doubts. There's things integral to this universe, sure. Shepard needs to join Cerberus. The Collectors will start harvesting human colonies. Sovereign will attack the Citadel. But everything else…I could change it. Potentially save lives. Save the people I care about. But I've been too damn scared, from what Shiara's told me, in case I change something too big to reverse.

But the secret's made almost everyone I've gotten close to, everything I touch turn to shit. And now it's happening with Tali. She doesn't think I can trust her, and she's probably going to walk away. Decide this was all a bad idea. Someone else gone because I'm just some frightened kid who doesn't want to interfere.

Fuck. I want Tali and I to be together right now. More than just about anything in the world. And if she knows…it can't end the universe somehow, can it? I'd have to be honest with her, maybe even warn her about her father…but that's a price worth paying. She has a right to know. I've hidden this too long.

And then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

"I can't do this," I say quietly, as Tali looks back up and we lock eyes.

"No, Ian," she replies quickly. "I didn't mean it like that, I'm just not sure if-"

I shake my head, cutting her off mid-sentence. "It's nothing to do you with you, Tali. You're right. What I mean is, I can't keep lying to you. There's something about my past that's bothering me. Something I haven't been honest with you about." Tali's body language suddenly stiffens slightly, as she folds her arms and continues to stare at me.

"What?" she asks simply. "What haven't you been honest about?" I take a deep breath…now I've said something like that, no going back.

I seriously hope I don't regret this.

"I'm not quite sure how else to phrase this," I start, stumbling over the words slightly as nerves take hold, "so I'll be blunt. I'm not from this universe. I came from a different one entirely, which was a hundred and seventy odd years in the past to this one. This place," I cast my arm about, "this universe was all a video game in my time. A video game I've played. I've known events before they were even going to happen…" Tali's shaking her head in disbelief, actually taking one or two steps away from me. "Tali, I'm sorry. I swear to you, I can explain this."

"You've got to be crazy," she says, still frantically shaking her head. "That can't be right. There's no way!"

God, she's freaking out…and I am as well, now this is out in the open. I was hoping she'd take it better, but if someone told _me _there weren't from my universe, I'd think they were mental too. How to prove it…what's one thing Tali knows that no-one else should? A passcode, or something… "After time adrift among stars," I say quietly. "Along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began." Tali suddenly stops her in tracks, and stares at me in disbelief. "As passwords come and go, it's a beautiful one," I say, trying a smile. Doesn't seem to work.

"No…" Tali whispers. "How…how do you know that?"

"I told you," I say, gulping slightly, "this is all a video game where I'm from. Saren, Shepard, everyone and everything…even you. You said it in the sequel. The games, they were called _Mass Effect._" Tali's just staring at me now, and I take a hesitant step closer. She doesn't move away. "You've got a right to know this, Tali. The truth. I want to be with you, and I can't…couldn't keep lying like that."

"I don't understand," she mutters, then slowly lowers herself down to the floor and sits down. I carefully walk forward, then sit down next to her. Tali's not mad at me, then, which is almost what I expected…though God knows what she's thinking right now. "Why not use that knowledge? Or tell Shepard so she could have stopped Saren?"

"Because this is far, far bigger than Saren," I explain. "Changing events like that…it could change what happens in Shepard's life. Saren isn't the end of this. The Reaper we saw in his lab, Sovereign, there's a lot more where he came from. So if I change events that happened in the game…she might never go on the path to stopping. It could literally lead to the end of the galaxy."

Tali shakes her head. "Keelah, this is a lot to take in. So, you telling me…this is changing something, right? Is this going to make the galaxy end?"

"No. But Tali, you have to promise me not to tell anyone about this. _Anyone_," I say. "That could be catastrophic." Tali just sits there for a few seconds, then slowly nods her head. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I promise," she says.

"Thank you," I breathe. "For taking this. You don't know what it's like to be able to tell someone, to actually be honest…God, you must have some questions, right?"

"A few," she says, laughing a little nervously. "How did you even end up here?"

Shit, not the best first question… "Frankly, I don't know the whole details myself," I admit. "An asari, called Shiara, appeared in my dimension, melded with me, and when I woke up I was on the Citadel. I mean, obviously there's more to it than that, and apparently I'm here to help stop the Reapers. I've just got no bloody idea how. Joining Shepard was a start."

"And me?" Tali asks, slowly. "What do you know about me?" God, awkward question…especially given all the stuff with her father in Mass Effect 2. But I have to tell her. I can't just lie to her anymore, not when she knows all of this.

"Only what I could garner from conversations in-game," I say. "Meeting you for real, though…games can't even begin to put that into perspective. As for you in the future, you'll finish your Pilgrimage, though for the rest of the two years I'm not sure. There's other stuff, but it'll only make sense if I tell you nearer the time. I'm sorry, but it just won't make sense now." I don't think she's been sending the geth parts to her dad yet, so nothing I can do about it. "Look, Tali, I know this is a lot for you to find out. And if you want to cut and run, if you can't do a relationship knowing all this…" I look down at the floor sadly. "I won't blame you."

There's a silence as I look at the floor, already hearing her answer in my head. That's she's sorry, but she can't do it anymore… "Ian," she says gently next to me. "If what you're saying is true, and it looks like it is…you've had too hard a time by yourself." I look up at her, unable to help smiling at Tali's words. "I went on this date with you because I like you, Ian. A lot. I want to make this work, and the fact you actually trust me with this now…I still want this," she finishes simply. We stare at each other for a few more seconds, then I launch into a hug, which Tali returns strongly.

She's accepted it. Accepted me. The truth shall set you free, indeed.

We sit there for what must be at least a minute, before we slowly break and apart and she lightly shakes her head. "I'm still finding it hard to believe. That you know what's going to happen ahead of time."

"It's not a perfect science," I admit. "Some things already have changed, albeit small ones. But thank you. For taking this."

"I said you could trust me," Tali says. "Then again, I wasn't expecting that." I laugh, which feels incredibly good given how tense that all was. "So, are we going to catch Saren? Can you tell me that?"

"Yeah. We stop him and Sovereign on the Citadel," I say. "The Citadel is actually a massive mass relay, and the Conduit a back way in…there's gonna be a lot of damage around here, which is why I wanted to enjoy it while we could tonight, but we'll get him."

Tali shakes her head. "That's good to know. But Keelah, the Citadel attacked…"

"A lot's going to happen," I say simply. "But we'll make it through. I can explain more later, when it'll make more sense…but right now, we should enjoy the rest of the night we have left. The Council meeting won't have gone well, so Shepard'll want us back at the Normandy soon."

"Not gone well?" Tali asks, sounding surprised. "How?"

"They're just setting up a blockade around the Citadel, and aren't gonna let Shepard off to Ilos. We're gonna be grounded, but Anderson'll get us out." I smile at her. "Leave that to him and Shepard. Right now, it's just you and me. And we did come up here for a date, after all."

"We did," Tali nods. "Thank you for being honest, Ian. Even if I think it's going to take more than just tonight for me to get my head around it."

I grimace slightly. "It's probably going to take me that long to get my head around the fact someone else knows. But, thank you for listening. For being here. I could die right now, Tali. I'm just happy to have that weight off my shoulders. To be with you. I've…never felt that before."

"Is that a quote from the game?" she asks, a little teasingly.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," I shrug. "Old film from my time. We ought to watch it. Right after this."

"After what?"

I step forward and put my arms around her, drawing Tali close…just as my headset starts beeping frantically. _"Ian?" _I hear Shepard's voice say frantically. _"Ian? Come in, Ian!"_

I groan slightly, as Tali and I draw apart. "She has the quite the sense of timing, doesn't she? This'll be the call that the meeting hasn't gone well."

I lift a hand up to my ear, and try to stop my voice shaking from happiness and the sheer shock of telling someone. "I'm here, Shepard."

"_The bloody Council put us in lockdown!" _she says furiously. _"I'm meeting with Anderson to try and get out and make it to Ilos before Saren does. Get back up the Normandy, double time!"_

"Will do," I say, shutting off the comms transmission and looking over at Tali. "This is it, you know. The final chapters of the story."

"I'm ready," she replies. "Walk me back to the Normandy, then. I think I've still got a few more questions for you, if it's alright."

I've told Tali the truth, finally. I don't have the weight of the secret totally on me, we're closer now because of it than before…and I'm feeling truly happy.

This has got to be one of the best dates _ever._

"Of course it's alright," I grin at her. "Fire away."

**A/N: That was unbelievably hard to write. Emotional scenes + Me = Out of comfort zone, but regardless, I hope that worked for y'all.**

**Alright, one last interactions chapter next, which I'm actually gonna hold back the details on since it'll be fairly important. Not like world-changing important…but still. **

**Over 800 reviews as well now. Thanks to everyone who's helped get to that figure, whether you review every chapter or just the one, and all of you who follow this story. You're awesome.**

**See you next chapter!**


	35. Ian vs The Confrontation

Chapter 35

Circa Survive: I Felt Free

"…so in two years, we'll both be on the Normandy with an opera singing salarian, a pretty mental biotic and a tank-bred krogan. Oh, and an asari Justicar. Does that answer your question?"

"Far, far too well," Tali says as we walk briskly around the corner and towards Laet's shop. It's been like a twenty minute walk to the shop…but it's passed so quickly. Tali's been so careful and patient with the questions, mainly about my real past rather than anything to do with the future, so in the last five minutes I've been explaining how Saren isn't the end, not by far. I've yet to mention Shepard's death…and that over the two years until she 'gets better', Tali and I will have to part ways. We all have roles to fill in the two years, roles that can't be ignored whether we like it or not…except me. I don't know what I'm doing yet. I could always go to Omega with Garrus…but frankly, vigilante justice really isn't my thing. And it might have to be something he does himself.

But Tali needs to be around with her quarian team, to help Shepard out on Freedom's Progress, plus look into Haestrom. I convinced that place is going to be important somehow, given how its sun is dying remarkably fast…so it needs to be looked into.

I'll tell her after the initial shock of finding out the truth has worn off, though. Right now, focus on the few positives there are. Try not to make her freak out.

"It's just weird," Tali sighs, "to think I'm a fictional character where you're from. I mean…I don't even exist in your universe."

"Jesus, Tali, you can't think that," I say, stopping about fifty metres from the doors and shaking my head. "You exist here. You're real. That's all that matters. As far as I know, in some other dimension or whatever, I could exist in a video game myself. It's kinda mind-bending, to think about…but it's irrelevant. We're both real here, and we're both together. Where I came from, I know I can't go back. I've started a new life here, and I'm happy with that."

"I suppose so," she nods. "Starting a new life can't have been easy, though."

"After the initial shock wore off…I just gave myself an objective," I shrug. "Meet up with Garrus, try to get some security around here, survive. Having to lie to everyone's been the hardest bit. Especially Garrus. He's like a brother to me…and I can't tell him."

Tali sounds a little confused as she replies. "Why not? You told me."

"Good point," I say. It is, actually…but Tali and Garrus are very different people. "You're more accepting than Garrus, though, and I couldn't just keep lying to you. Not when it was getting between us. Besides, the more people who know, the worse this gets. I can change some events for the better, but if you tell someone their fate, naturally there's gonna be some things in it they want to change. Too much change runs too big a risk."

"So you can't change anything?" Tali asks. "Even if it would save lives?"

"I didn't say that," I reply, shaking my head. "It's complicated. And it all depends on whether or not doing that would screw up the story so bad the Reapers gain an advantage. But I tried to save Ash on Virmire, even if that didn't work." And I'm going to try and save Rael'Zorah, though she won't even have started sending the geth parts that put him in danger yet. I'm going to warn her about it…but when it becomes relevant. His research needs to started, after all. "Believe me, I don't like making that kind of call. Knowing people are going to die, but knowing stopping it leads to the end of the galaxy in the long run anyway. It's not nice to live with."

"It doesn't sound it," Tali says grimly. "But at least you can share things with me now. Take some of the burden off."

I smile at her. It's almost unbelievable how accepting she's been…and it's really, really endearing. This kind of thing is exactly why I asked her out. "Yeah. It does." We both share the moment for a few seconds…then I snap back into focus. "Come on, Shepard's gonna be waiting, and I need my armour back."

"Right," Tali nods, as we move forward and through into the shop. Laet's standing by the counter, and he breaks into a big smile when he sees me, mandibles widened.

"Good timing, Ian, I just finished it a few minutes ago," he grins, glancing over at Tali. "Hey, Tali. How's it going?"

The quarian seems to get a little nervous, fidgeting slightly as she looks back at Laet. "Good, thank you. I'm surprised you remember me."

"I've got a good memory for names," Laet says, as he lifts my armour and case up from behind the counter and lays it out carefully. "We don't see many quarians around here, anyway. You two out together tonight?" Tali's seems somewhat taken aback by him saying that. For fuck's sake, Laet! Stop making Tali more nervous!

"Yes," I say, trying to spare Tali's nerves any more trouble. "We had a lovely evening. Now, can we see the helmet? I don't want to be rushing you, but we kinda need to be back at our ship really soon."

Laet holds up his hands apologetically. "Say no more," he replies. "And congratulations. You two make a good couple."

"You've only seen us together for like thirty seconds," I point out.

"Just thought it was the polite thing to say," he shrugs, chuckling lightly. "Anyway, take a look at this." He reaches over to the right wrist of my armour, as I take a glance at it. Looks just like it did before I brought it in…except it's a little bulkier around the neck area. Good sign.

Laet stabs down on a small button on the wrist…causing several bits of metal to rise up out of the collar of the armour, sliding up and over each other, all around until it forms the exact helmet shape I was after…and makes a truly epic noise as the three slits in it for my vision turn blue. Good lord, it's perfect.

"Full heads up display, with shield monitoring, assisted targeting and enemy shield integrity scan," Laet says proudly. "I threw some of that stuff in for free, and it's guaranteed not to dent, even if a krogan were to punch it."

"You do know I can check that," I smile, as Laet folds the armour back up into the box, "but I'll take your word for it. I owe you one, buddy."

"I'll just take my six thousand credits and be happy with that," he grins, as I grab the armour case and make for the door with Tali. "See you later, you two. Provided whatever mission you two go on goes well, anyway."

"Thanks, Laet," I shout back sardonically, and the door slides shut behind us on Laet merrily waving us goodbye. What a fucking character… "Shepard's gonna be waiting. You got enough energy for a run?"

Tali nods happily. "Of course. Lead the way."

########

"_There _you are!" Shepard exclaims, as Tali and I finally come through the air-lock after the ten minute run back to the Normandy. Not fun with a heavy armour case. "Anderson's taking us out of lockdown any second now!"

"Good to hear," I smile, taking a quick glance at Tali. If she needed any more proof, there it is. "Did you miss us?"

"Don't," Shepard growls, but she's smiling slightly as she turns around and strides off towards Joker's chair. I guess everyone else is in on board…time to make our daring escape!

"I ought to make sure the drive core is in prime condition, then," Tali says next to me. "I had a really nice night, Ian. Everything that you told me…it's fine. I appreciate you telling me."

"Hey, I appreciate you not freaking out," I grin. "I'll see you later then, Tali. But don't make it too long."

She quarian giggles a little bit. "I'll try not to," she says shyly…and then she's gone, down the CIC towards the staircase and elevator below.

Damn. What a girl.

"That's it, lockdown lifted!" Joker yells from behind me, knocking me out of my trance as the Normandy immediately lifts off, and I watch Joker expertly manoeuvre us round in the spaceport to face out of the Citadel. "Here we go!" Oh, God, I was never exactly big on high speed pursuit…Joker launches us forward at what's definitely not Citadel regulation speed, as we shoot out towards space.

I'm expecting to here something in the radio as we move away, demanding for us to come back, a fleet of ships trying to shoot us down…but in the two minutes it takes for us to make it out of the arms of the Citadel, literally nothing. "That," I finally say, when it's massively obvious we're in the clear, "was the most anti-climatic escape _ever._"

"You're telling me," Joker sighs. "I was hoping for some explosions, maybe, some real opportunities to test my baby's capabilities out…"

"You know, I think I can do without explosions and danger for once in my life," Shepard sighs. "And calling the Normandy your 'baby' is weird, Joker."

"I'm attached to the ship, what can I say?" Joker mutters defensively. "It's probably going to be about fourteen hours to Ilos, Commander. If there's anything you want to get finalised, now would be a good time. Or just get some sleep. I reckon you'll be needing it."

"Thank you, Joker, for that priceless advice," Shepard says sardonically. "I'm going to head back up to my quarters. I imagine you'll be getting some sleep, Ian?"

I nod my head firmly. "Yeah. I think I could do with that."

"You shouldn't have to sleep down in the crew quarters when we've got a room spare," Shepard replies, shaking her head. Eh? "Ash's room is available, if you want." Oh, right… "It's been removed of all her stuff, don't worry. Besides, since you and Tali were out together, maybe you'd want the privacy?"

I choke on what I was about to say slightly when she says that. "You what?"

"I'm not an idiot, Ian," she grins. "You two just happen to come back at the same time as each from shore leave. And you watched her go like some love-sick teenager." Ah, stop being right! "The room's there, if you want it."

"Thanks, Shepard," I sigh. No point trying to deny it, I guess. "I think I'm gonna get a drink first, though. You coming down for anything before you hit the hay?"

The Commander shakes her head. "I don't think so. I guess I'll see you in the morning, then. Get some rest. We've got a big day ahead of us."

"Understatement of the century," I smile, getting a laugh from Shepard as she heads to the elevator herself. Ash's room…well, I suppose I could do with a real bed, rather than the bastard cots downstairs. But first, a quick glass of orange juice or something before I go to sleep. I'm hella thirsty!

############

Mmm, orange juice. I love this stuff. I glug down my second glass of the night, sitting in the relative quiet of the living area. Kaidan's the only other person around, typing away on his console silently as I get my sip on. I could always ask him over…but after everything tonight, just sitting by myself suits me fine.

So, Tali knows. Shiara's gonna be pissed when she finds out, I bet…but I'll deal with that when I come to it. For now, I'm just grateful for having someone to share my secrets with. As for Tali and her future, well…I'll have to tell her about Rael at some point, and the trial. But not right now, before Saren. We've all got enough on our plates as it is without the extra pressure of the future bearing down on us.

Yeah, I'm done here. Pop my glass in the washing machine, then grab some sleep. Need to be on tip-top geth killing form for tomorrow…and a tired Ian Shaw does not get much of that done.

I'm just about to rise up out of the chair, though, when the elevator doors slide open and a rather relaxed looking Garrus walks out. He takes a glance around the area…but doesn't seem to notice me, and instead heads over to Kaidan. Huh…

"Hey, Kaidan," I hear him say. Maybe them talking isn't the best idea, given that Kaidan's a little unhappy with him at the moment…but I'm far too interested to intervene. That's bad, isn't it? Oh well. "You haven't seen Shepard around, have you?"

I literally see Kaidan's expression get at least twice as pissed off when he mentions Shepard's name. Not the best conversation topic, mate… "No."

"Oh," he says, a little despondently. "I was just looking for her, seeing if she wanted to talk, or maybe go on the Treysonic for a bit. Tell me if you do see her, if that's alright."

"Actually, Garrus," Kaidan says, turning around to face the turian. "It's not. I'm sick of you constantly following her around." Oh, hello! It's all coming out in the open now!

Garrus looks a little taken-aback, mandibles widened slightly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We're just about to go into an _extremely _important mission," Kaidan says tetchily. "And you want to see if she can play video-games? This whole mission, you've constantly been a distraction to her!" Kaidan, dude, that's harsh! "I'm sick of it! We have a job to do, not socialise like this?"

"Alright, Kaidan, what's your problem?" Garrus asks angrily. Maybe I should step in…but part of me says this is something they should work past themselves. Me intervening isn't going to solve any of these issues. "I can't talk to her?"

"Talk?" Kaidan laughs. "You do more than that, Garrus. There's having a chat, then there's following someone around!"

"What are you trying to say, Kaidan?" Garrus pushes.

The Lieutenant just scoffs slightly, turning back to his console a little. "It's not important."

"Actually, I'm going to disagree with you there," the turian snaps. "Spit it out!" Bloody hell, this conversation turned sour _way _quicker than I was expecting…

"Alright then, Garrus, I will," Kaidan literally _shouts, _turning to face the turian. "What the hell is your motivation?"

"We're friends!" the turian shouts back. "I'm not allowed to talk to her now, or something?"

Kaidan just shakes his head. "You know as well as I do that's not it, Garrus! Why are you doing it?"

"BECAUSE I HAVE FEELINGS FOR HER, OKAY!" Garrus suddenly yells in his face. Wow. I was not expecting _that,_ and from the looks of it neither was Kaidan. "Because every time I see her, every time we talk, it makes me happy. It gives me something extra to fight for. And if you've got a problem with that, Kaidan, you can keep it to your damn self!"

The two of them just stand there for a second, Garrus breathing heavily. God, maybe this would be the good time to step in…but before I can, an all too familiar voice says something from the foot of the stairs.

"What?" Commander Shepard asks, quietly. All three of us whirl around…and there she is. Staring at Garrus in disbelief.

"Shepard," he mumbles, tripping all over his words and fringe flushing blue. "I…erm…what are you doing here?"

"I was getting a drink," Shepard says, shaking her head. "But, uh, that's not really important now. Did you just say you had feelings for me?"

Garrus looks distraught…then he slowly nods his head. "Yes." Guess he figures there's no point lying about it now, since she caught him red-handed. Probably the right decision.

"How long for?"

"A while now," he admits. "I know it's not professional, Shepard. And…and Kaidan's right, I'm letting it distract me, and you. I…should get going." He looks towards the elevator nervously. "There's a new Mako to calibrate after all, and…"

Shepard takes a few steps towards Garrus. Oh God, I hope she doesn't like throw him off the ship or something, or tell him to get out…but then, suddenly, she breaks into the widest smile I ever think I've seen her give someone.

No. No fucking way!

"I think we've got a lot to talk about," Shepard grins. "Some mutual feelings we might have to…clear up. In private."

"Oh," is all Garrus can say. "Erm…where exactly would that be?"

"My quarters," Shepard says firmly, but she's still smiling broadly. "Now." And with that, the Commander turns and heads towards the elevator, leaving an amazed looking Garrus just standing there. Time to give him one last push.

I rise up out of my chair, and stand next to him. "I think she's waiting for you," I mutter to him. "You lucky bastard. But Garrus, one thing."

He looks down at me, expression still one of surprise…but joy as well. "What?"

"Whatever ideas of human romance you have, they're probably wrong," I grin, remembering his romance scene in Mass Effect 2. "Trust me."

"Erm…okay," he says, then slowly walks off towards the elevator almost in a trance. The doors close on them both, though as they do, I swear I see Shepard's hand snake out towards his talon.

Kaidan's still staring at the elevator in shock, as I walk over to the dishwasher, chuckling quietly to myself.

Screw what Kaidan thinks. As far as I'm concerned, it's about damn time. Though that is _not _how I was expecting it to go.

############

I collapse onto the bed in Ash's room, breathing in deeply as I feel a real mattress massage my shoulders for the first time in a long, long while. It does feel a little weird, since the room belonged to her…but Shepard was telling the truth when she said they'd stripped it of all her personal stuff. All the furniture's still in place around the fairly small room, but it's empty. Feels kinda weird.

But I'm more than prepared to get over that since it means a sleep in a real bed. The cots downstairs have mattresses, sure…but it's total military issue stuff, hard as rock. Seems to suit Garrus fine, though turians prefer a hard mattress, as my first night sleeping in the spare room in our apartment on the Citadel can confirm. This, though, is total luxury compared to the cots. I don't know why Ash had her own room to begin with…but I can see why she wanted it.

I sigh and close my eyes, breathing in and out slowly and deeply. I can't believe the sheer amount of stuff that's happened in the last day or so…first Tali and I get together, then I tell her the truth, and now Shepard and Garrus are 'talking' about their feelings in her quarters? That's been brewing for a while, mind…they just didn't notice they felt the same way about each other until now. And given that this is the night before Ilos, something makes me suspect talking isn't the only thing they might be doing.

God, Garrus is going to be in for a hell of a surprise. Good for him.

I dunno if Tali's going to be coming in here, though, but I'll leave that up to her. I mean, that was just the first date. From my experience of dating, generally you're not sleeping together after the _very _first one…though that hasn't stopped Garrus and Shepard, I guess. Far as I can tell, they've just jumped straight to the second stage.

But like I said to Tali, we've got to take it slow. For her safety, and I don't want to rush either of us through this. It's incredibly tempting to send her an omni-tool message, asking if she wants to come through…but it's up to her. We had a nice night, but she'll probably want to think about everything she discovered on it. Don't want to interrupt.

I roll over to the room's control panel mounted on the side of the bed, dimming the lights and locking the doors…just as someone knocks on it. Always something, isn't there? "What?" I ask, pressing the button again as the door slide open…and Tali walks in. "Oh, Tali! How're you doing?"

"Good," she says a little shyly, as the door slides shut behind her. "Kaidan told me you were in here, but he doesn't look like he's in such a good mood. What's happened?"

"Garrus accidentally let his feelings about Shepard be known," I smile, "just as she walked into the room. She seemed to share them…and I don't think Kaidan's too happy about that. Maybe a little jealous."

"About time he admitted it," Tali laughs. "Shame about Kaidan, though. I guess I'm here for the same reason Shepard's with Garrus, now that we mention them."

Huh? I raise an eyebrow. "Look, Tali, it's not that simple. God knows I want to, but with your immune system and everything, we can't just laun-"

"No, no, I didn't mean _that,_" she says quickly, shaking her head. "Not yet, anyway. I was thinking about what you said about Ilos, that we're going to stop Saren…but, it might not go as perfectly as you're saying. I mean, this is real life, not some…some game. We're going to be fighting for our lives tomorrow, and we might not make it. I know everything went well in _Mass Effect_, but it was programmed to. None of us here are programmed to be invincible."

"Tali…" I start to say, but the quarian holds up a three fingered hand as I'm about to begin reassuring her, even though she does have a point…just knowing the game doesn't change anything. People can still mistakes. We might be supposed to succeed…but that doesn't mean we don't have to fight tooth and nail for it.

"This could, however unlikely it might seem to you, be our last tonight together," she says softly. "And I know we can't spend it like a normal couple. But we ought to be together. This once."

Wow…I guess this is it. Our platonic romance scene before Ilos. And it's seriously heartwarming to hear her say that. "Tali, I didn't know you felt like that. But, well…you're right. I want this too. If this the last night I spend here, it's gotta be with you."

"Well, I was going to bring music, or something, but I don't really know what you like…" she says, walking towards the bed, actually managing to get even more nervous with every step. "and…"

"You're babbling like an idiot," I finish for her, gently holding her wrists and looking into the visor. "Tali, don't worry. We'll make it out of Ilos. We'll make this work. So for once, just forget about being nervous, and enjoy the moment."

We stare at each for a few seconds, the only thing I can see under the visor are her eyes…but they say as much as her face ever could. And with a sudden lunge, I can feel her hands wrap around my back, as we fall back onto the bed.

And with my free hand, I gently reach over to the room controls, and set the lights down once again.

############

I blearily open my eyes to the sound of someone hammering away on the room's door, and I steal a quick glance at Tali stirring next to me as I try to wake up. Damn, I could get used to seeing that…just not getting up this early. I look over at the clock…Jesus, there's still like three hours or so until we reach Ilos!

"I'm sleeping," I groan. "Go away."

The pounding continues. "Ian," a familiar but muffled voice says from behind the door. "It's Garrus. Open up." Huh, he's sounding pretty serious…though shouldn't be with Shepard? I wonder what's wrong. I fumble over at the door control, opening it up, and Garrus strolls through immediately. And he's glaring at me.

Huh?

"Ian," he says slowly. "Why are you having Prothean visions?"

Oh, _shit._

"What?" I ask, rising out of the bed and trying to look surprised. "Garrus, what are you talking about?"

"While Shepard and I were sleeping together, she started having these spasms. Yelling, freaking out," he says coldly, staring right through me. "Exactly like you. And when I asked her what was causing them, she told me it was the Prothean vision flaring back up. Just like your symptoms."

For fuck's sake, he's onto me! "You and Shepard are sleeping together?" I try, pathetically. Take the bait...

"Don't dodge the fucking question!" he growls. Bugger.

"That's not right…I don't know what you mean," I protest, but it's incredibly weak. I can't think of an excuse. He's got me bloody cornered.

"I've known you for two and a bit years now, Ian," Garrus says quietly, stepping slowly towards me. "I trust you more than anyone else in this galaxy. You're like a brother to me. So I'll give you one chance. One chance to explain this all to me. To tell me what the hell is going on with you."

I stare despondently at him. How can I tell Garrus, of all people, what I've been hiding? I think desperately of some cover, some way to conceal it…then feel a light touch on my arm. I look around…and it's Tali. Staring softly at me.

"Tell him," she says simply. "He has a right to know."

"A right to know what?" he asks, raising his voice. "What don't I know, Ian?" Tali's right…and besides, there's no way out of this. I didn't want to tell two people, but if anyone deserves to know, it's Garrus. Shit.

"Garrus…I'm not from this universe," I say bluntly. The turian's eyes widen, but I continue anyway. "The visions I'm having are somehow a result of me being brought here by a dimension travelling asari, called Shiara. This universe, its events, its characters, all exist in a video game where I'm from, and it's called _Mass Effect. _ I've played it. All of this, with Saren…" I lower my head. "I've known what was coming."

Garrus just stands there in stunned silence for a few seconds…then shakes his head. "Bullshit. One chance to give me the truth, Ian, and you feed me this line? Why can't you be honest with me?"

"Garrus, he's not lying!" Tali protests. "He can prove it!" Jesus, thanks Tali…the turian turns his head to look at me expectantly. I already know so much about Garrus, what is there he really hasn't told me?

"The best places to fight through are gardens, electronic shops, and antique stores, but only if they're classy," I say quickly. "Your father's personal mantra is 'do things right or don't do them at all'. Your 'reach and flexibility'. All you mentioned to me was that phrase. But I know it happened just before you were about to hit a batarian pirate squad. You and the scout had been at each other's throats for a while before, and you decided to settle it in the ring. Both top ranked hand to hand specialists on the ship, and the judge called it a draw after nine rounds. Then you held a tiebreaker back in her quarters, you-"

"Had reach, but she had flexibility," Garrus mutters, then turns to look at me. "You…you could have found that out anywhere."

I shake my head patiently. "No, Garrus, I couldn't. When have you ever told me any of that?"

"I…"

"He knew things about me too, Garrus, things he shouldn't have. And he knows what's going to happen," Tali explains. Garrus takes a few steps back in shock…then composes himself and stares at me. He doesn't look happy. Oh God.

"So, you've known about events, and you haven't tried to change them? Tell Shepard? Help us all out?" he asks furiously, moving towards me again.

Bugger, I knew he wouldn't take this well. "I can't, Garrus. If I change things, the game plot might change too. Irreversibly. And if we go off that too much…then we won't go down the right route to stop the Reapers. And all life in the galaxy ends."

"How am I supposed to believe that?" he demands. "Like what? How could that ever happen?"

"If Shepard doesn't die in a few months time, then be revived by Cerberus two years later, she'll never join Cerberus and fight an alien race abducting human colonies!" I shout back. "Then we'll never be able to follow through with that, bring together a new team in two year's time, and find out information about the Reapers and how to stop them! And then we'll all be screwed!"

Tali and Garrus both stare at me, dumfounded.

Shit. Maybe saying Shepard's going to die wasn't the best example.

"Shepard and I are romantically involved, and you didn't think you should tell me this?" the turian shouts. Thank Christ the walls are sound-proofed… "Even if we weren't, she's going to die and you didn't want to tell us?"

"I can't!" I respond, temper rising. "This needs to happen! It can't be changed!"

Garrus shakes his head. "Yes it can! We can warn her! _I _can warn her!"

"Then you'd be dooming the entire galaxy to extinction!" I shout. "This is not what I want either, Garrus, but everything will work out! She'll get better! There's not a choice to make here!"

"There's always a choice! What if it gets people killed, Ian?" Garrus roars. "What if someone dies, huh? Like Shepard? You must have known about Virmire, too!"

"I…" I mumble, taking a few steps back. People have died because of me not changing things…

"How can you make this seem right!" he says, striding up to me and staring straight into my eyes.

"I CAN'T!" I yell. "Alright! I tried to save Ash! There is nothing I can do to make this perfect! But it has to be done!"

Garrus shakes his head furiously. "So that's it? People die, and you just keep on going?"

"You think I don't know what I'm doing?" I shout, tears clouding my vision. "I can't change some things, Garrus! If they changed, I saved everyone now, the Reapers would end all life anyway! It's only…it's only delaying the inevitable." I bow my head. "I don't know all the answers. I don't know how to fix this between us. Not telling you. Where do are you supposed to start? What do you say!"

The turian just looks at me silently. "All I can do is go forward, save those I can, until I find the answers I need," I finish quietly.

"There are no answers!" Garrus yells. "This is you, running from what you deserve!"

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT I DESERVE!" I shout back, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I've had to live with this secret every day of my fucking life here, Garrus! You think I've enjoyed lying to you? Everyone close to me? You think I _want _to see Shepard die? For once in your life, Garrus, look past the bloody short term! We have to do this, for the sake of everything in the galaxy. This is how it has to be. We have to live with this, because if we can't, then we're all doomed." I let him go and slump back against the wall, seeing Tali staring at Garrus and I in the corner of the room. Godammit, he can't see…he doesn't want to.

"Garrus," I hear Tali say gently, from the other side of the room. "Ian's been your best friend for two years now. Your partner. We both know him. You know he's only doing this for the right reasons."

"How can this be right?" Garrus mutters. "Knowing what will happen, and being powerless to change it."

Tali shakes her head, as I look up at her from my position slumped against the wall. "Some things can change. Ian being here, for one. But if we're going to stop the Reapers, this is how it has to be."

"I'm sorry," I say quietly, the words just slipping out. But I mean it. So much. "I'm sorry for lying to you, Garrus. For hiding it for this long. But this is the truth. How I have to live. And where I can change things for the better, I swear to you, I'll try. And if I don't, then you can be mad at me. Cast me aside. But some things need to remain integral. You have to understand that."

We all sit and stand in our respective positions for what feels like at least a minute, as I stare solemnly at the floor. This can't be it between Garrus and I. It…it just can't. Then, I hear a slow intake of breath, and look up to see Garrus's mandibles widening as he opens his mouth to talk.

"Suppose I did understand," he says quietly. "What are you saying? That Shepard and I…we'd have to part ways for two years to save the galaxy? She'd have to die?"

"Yes," I reply simply. There's no two ways about it now. I just tell him the whole truth. "But she'll come back, Garrus. You two will still be together. You…you'd just have to wait. Tali and I would as well. The two years where Shepard's dead, she needs to return to the Flotilla." I look at up at Tali. "I'm sorry. There'll be a few months after everything with Saren where we can be together, but after Shepard goes we have to wait two years. But if it means being with you, Tali, I can wait."

Garrus just shakes his head, staring at me…but his expression's softening. "Spirits, I can barely believe this. If all this is true, and I think it is…I can see why you hid it." Wait, is Garrus accepting this? "And I can see why you…you have to do with that knowledge what you do. I'm just struggling to understand it."

"Garrus, mate…you're like a brother to me," I say. "So, if you have any questions, I'll answer them. I don't want to this to come between us. Not after everything we've been through."

"Neither do I," the turian replies. "This, though…spirits, Ian, it's not what I was expecting."

"I know," I say. "I know you must be feeling hurt right now, maybe betrayed… but just let me explain everything, Garrus. I can help you understand."

He nods, sighing, and looks me in the eye. "Alright. Start from the beginning. And don't miss anything out."

############

So I don't. I tell him and Tali the whole story, from Shiara taking me here in the first place, to dealing with the visions, the changes that have happened so far, what it's been like for the last two and a bit years, and a bit of the future, though nothing of importance to them personally. The whole time, Garrus and Tali just stood there patiently, the quarian already knowing some of the story, but from time to time one asked a question which I answered. It feels absolutely amazing to be utterly honest, and that Garrus is finally coming around…

"…so Shepard gets brought back by Cerberus, and that's the start of Mass Effect 2 events," I finally say, bringing the story to a close after about an hour of straight talking. Garrus just blinks, looking dumfounded, and though I can't see Tali's facial expression I imagine it won't be too far different.

"I think I understand almost too much now," Garrus finally says quietly, but the rage behind his eyes seems to have subsided. "I can see why you haven't told people, though. They'd think you were crazy."

"So…are we good?" I ask quietly, looking up at the turian. There's a silence for a few seconds…then he breaks into a fully-fledged, wide mandibled, toothy grin.

"Yeah," he nods. "We're good." A huge wave of relief washes over me as he says that. Garrus and I are still good. I really thought we'd lost it there, that he wouldn't come around…but it feels amazing that he's taking it like this. I give him a big smile back…ah, fuck it! I grab Garrus in a hug before he can react, feelings his arms flail behind me.

"I didn't say we were _that _good," he mutters, after a few seconds, and I quickly push off him. "I'm not usually big on hugs. Especially off other guys. Though I suppose the situation called for it."

"I'm just glad you aren't holding it against me," I say, meaning every word. "I don't enjoy having to do this."

He shakes his head. "I know you don't. But…I can understand why you have to do it. And why other people can't know. I've trusted you for the past two years, and I don't see why you'd do this unless you had a damn good reason. I'm not going to stop trusting you now." Good old Garrus…he's so much more level headed when he's not angry. "Shepard dying, though…It's a lot to take in."

"She comes back," I say, for what must be the third time now.

"Yeah, I know," he nods. "Doesn't really make it any easier, though. Knowing I have to let it happen. When did you tell Tali?"

"When we were out on the Citadel," Tali answers for me.

"She took a hell of a lot better than you," I say, laughing, albeit slightly because of nerves. Garrus and Tali both join in a little bit, though. Now the shock's worn off, I think he's just trying to take it in his stride now. Thank Christ. I'm trying to get used to the fact two people on the ship know now. Not what I was planning on. And I'm not letting it go any further.

"This doesn't go beyond this room, you have to understand," I say to Garrus, sternly.

He just nods. "I know. I told you, I understand this now. I think. To make sure it stays a secret, though, since there's three of us…maybe we should form some kind of group."

Eh? I raise an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"We're the only ones who know," he shrugs. "We could form like a secret society or something, to make sure it never gets out, and we can talk about it. Stuff like that."

"Or we could just, I don't know, trust each other?" I say, a little incredulously. He's almost getting into it too much now! "What the hell were you thinking of calling this thing, anyway?"

"Erm…" Garrus says, obviously caught a little off guard by the question. "The Brotherhood of Secret Holding?"

"Seriously? I mean, that's sexist, for a start. Tali knows, and she's not a 'brother'."

Tali puts her hands on her hips, tone of voice hinting at amusement. "I didn't know you had such a thing about male superiority, Garrus."

"What?" he replies, sounding hurt. "That's not what a brotherhood means, you know? Besides, it was just an idea, that's all!"

"It's stupid, that's what it is," I laugh. "A secret society? Grow up, Garrus."

"I'm with Ian there," Tali says.

"You would be," Garrus mutters, "seeing as you're sleeping with him." Ooh, low blow, man!

"While I don't have a shotgun with me right now," Tali says calmly. "I'm sure I could lay my hands on one fairly quickly."

Garrus raises his hands defensively. "Maybe not, then." It's a huge relief that he's come to terms with it…and now he has, he's even prepared to joke about it a little. Typical fucking Garrus. "I'll leave you two for the last few hours until we reach Ilos, then. I'm going to go and see to the Mako down in the garage. I…have a lot to think about." With that, the turian walks out the room door, and it slides shut behind him.

Fuck me, that was a baptism of fire. But Garrus and I are still best friends, and now he knows. The two people I'm closest to. I can think of worse people to know.

"I'm not sure I'm going to get much sleep after _that,_" Tali sighs, flopping back down on the bed, as I crawl up next to her. "But he's taken it alright. Especially after what he was like when he first walked in."

"He gets blinded by his rage kinda easily," I mutter. "It was the same in-game. But I'm sick of talking about that." I roll over, and look into her visor. "We've still got a few hours until the relay. And I want to spend them with you."

"That makes two of us," Tali says happily, and I feel her embrace me for the second time tonight.

Even with the probable repercussions of the truth coming out to two people, what that could mean in the long run…I can't bring myself to care. Right now, lying here with Tali, Garrus's rage sated and the truth finally out to my best friend…I just feel like everything is right with the universe.

And I never want that feeling to end.

**A/N: Well. That was way too hard to write.**

**No, as one reviewer last chapter so aptly put it, I'm not 'pulling a Mass Vexations' and telling everyone on the ship Ian's secret. For now, it shall just be Tali and Garrus. Plus that's the end of the hardcore emotional scenes for a while now (all breathe a collective sigh of relief). I'm glad that it's dealt with, anyway.**

**Well, now Garrus and Shepard are together too! All we need now is Liara/Wrex…(not happening). And Garrus isn't trying to kill Ian for hiding the truth, thank Christ. The power of bromance right there. (Note: Bromance is not a real super-power. I think.)**

**And while Ian might feel good to have the truth out now…will things change down the line because of it?**

**Erm…yeah. Obviously. **

**Next chapter, the Normandy finally reaches Ilos, and the final few chapters begin. It's been a hell of a ride so far…and it ain't over yet. I'm not sure if the update rate will stay at such a high level like it has recently (is it over 9000?) but I'll sure as hell try.**

**Thanks for reviewing, reading, all that jazz, and have a nice day!**


	36. Ian vs The Final Mission

Chapter 36

Neon Trees: Animal

A sharp beeping right in my ear slowly rouses me from my sleep, as I blink rapidly to try and bring the room into focus…and feel one of my arms draped over Tali lying next to me, who's returning the favour with one of hers.

Of all the things to wake up to, that's gotta be one of the best.

I carefully lift my arm off, reaching over for the light control and trying to gently slide Tali's off me without waking her…which fails miserably, as she slowly starts moving and arches her back into a yawn. Shoot. Ah, well, I'd have had to get her up soon anyway, seeing as Ilos can't be far now. I flick the light control, and glance over at the clock on the wall as a gentle light fills the room. About an hour left until we need to start getting suited and booted proper…good. I don't like being rushed.

"Morning," I grin at Tali, as she rolls over and looks at me, eyes glowing faintly behind the visor. I take a quick glance down as I roll over in the bed…when did I take my top off? Guess I'm remembering other things from last night over that. "And I just remembered that I told you who I am. That feels really good."

"Good morning to you too," Tali says, as I catch the back-end of a yawn as she starts talking. "I just remembered too…and it's still weird. And, erm…you're topless. We didn't, er, Keelah…do anything?"

"I like to think I'd have remembered if we did," I chuckle. "So no. Must have just taken it off while we were hugging. Plus, to put it bluntly, you probably wouldn't be feeling so perky if any part of that suit had come off."

Tali nods, sighing lightly and falling back onto the bed. "Good point. And I'm not complaining it wasn't on, I…uh, I was just a little…surprised." She stops mid-sentence. "Sorry, I'm not used to this. Waking up next to someone else. But…I like it." Her voice gets suddenly warm towards the end, and even though I can't see her face it doesn't take a genius to realise she's smiling.

"Of course you do," I smile, pulling on a t-shirt. "It's me. Who wouldn't enjoy waking up next to that?"

Tali laughs from the bed. "You're in a good mood." She's right, as well…even with Ilos coming, for some reason I just feel…a little brighter than usual. A spring in my step. Spending a night with Tali certainly will have helped, and the fact I'm not totally keeping my secret to myself anymore. It's genuinely like it was a burden that's been lightened now.

"It's from telling you and Garrus, I think," I shrug. "Funny. I always expected to be freaking out if other people knew, worried about what it might change…but it just feels good. Being able to talk about it. Plus I can tell you about what's waiting for us on Ilos."

"It's odd to think you know all this," Tali says, propping herself up on her elbows. "I mean, in a good way, but you know what we'll be facing, the battlefield…"

"Yeah, well, you might be overestimating it a wee bit," I say, laughing a little bit. "My memory of the sequel game is far, far better. And as for combat, well…I always ended up just rushing in. So I don't exactly remember cover, or enemy locations." It's crushingly true…I could never motivate myself to fight properly in Mass Effect 1. God, I hated the combat. It's not like I'm bad with tactics or team strategy, as my Final Fantasy XII and XIII save files will attest to…just couldn't be bothered when shotgun equalled instant win. "Just because I should know what's coming doesn't make me invincible as well. I'm still fighting for my life out there. All it is is a bit of a safety buffer because I ought to know what's coming up."

She nods understandingly. "Ah, right…I might like to hear some of what you know about what's coming up on Ilos, then. I don't think I'd mind a safety buffer of my own." More than acceptable…but my tummy rumbling reminds me of other priorities.

I rise to my feet, glancing over at the door. "Tell you what. I'll grab us both some breakfast, come back down here, and we can talk it over for a bit. Suit you?"

"Now that you mention it, I am quite hungry," Tali admits. "Keelah…more of the paste we get here. I'm not sure I can go back to it after what I had last night."

"You gotta eat," I grin, opening the door and looking back to her sitting on the bed. "You stay nice and comfortable there, and I'll get some stuff down. I'd ask what exactly you were after, but we don't have much dextro choice, like you said…"

"Don't rub it in," Tali sighs, as the door slides shut behind me and I head for the elevator, whistling a tune I don't even recognise to myself as I do so. Probably one of the most dangerous days of my life…but at least I'm going into it with a smile.

##########

It's a little bit of a shock to see Garrus standing in the kitchen as I come out of the elevator, but I shrug it off. Hopefully he hasn't reconsidered his attitude after last night…one fight with Garrus is more than enough. Don't really want to go through that again. The place is deserted, though, so at least we can talk about it.

"Hey," I say, giving him a quick smile as he turns around from the counter, munching on something. "I thought you were calibrating the new Mako? Or going to see Shepard?"

"Yeah. Because after finding out my best friend is a dimension traveller who knows the future, I was in a _really _good place for calculating firing algorithms," he chuckles lightly. "Shepard needs her sleep, anyway…didn't want to wake her. The time we spent together before I went to see you, was, uh…good." Wow, guess Shepard didn't hang about. Though I can't imagine Garrus did either…actually, I don't want to imagine it at all.

Just hope she knows about what Mordin would have suggested, about 'not ingesting'…

Bad thoughts! God, now I feel like I need a shower for just thinking that.

Though I can't resist asking one thing. "Her flexibility good?"

Garrus chokes on whatever he's eating when I say that, coughing a few times to clear his windpipe. "Seriously, what is it with you and that story?"

"I've always found it funny," I chuckle, opening up the fridge. "It's what triggered your romance sub-plot in Mass Effect 2, anyway."

"Whoa, slow down," Garrus says quickly. "I was a _romance _option?"

"Yeah," I shrug. "For female Shepard. A pretty popular one, at that. I wish I could show you the comments section for some of the videos about that. Back in my universe…people seemed a hella lot more open minded about inter-species relationships than here."

"Really?" Garrus says, sounding surprised. "Was I the only romance option?"

I shake my head, sighing lightly. This isn't exactly how I imagined the aftermath of revealing the shocking truth going… "Well, there was a drell assassin, who people liked quite a bit as well. And a bloke who looked like Kanye West who was cool, but everyone ignored." Poor Jacob. I open up the fridge, grabbing a bottle of juice and glancing towards the freezer section… "Oh, godfuckingdammit!"

The tub of ice-cream I quickly grabbed on the way back to the Normandy with Tali is still there. But the lid's off. And it's about half empty. "Garrus, have you been eating my ice-cream!"

"No," he says sardonically. "You'd probably have noticed if I had, since I'd be undergoing a massive allergic reaction. Or you'd have stepped over my corpse on the way to the fridge." Shit, he's kinda got a point…it was a pretty stupid question. I shut the fridge door a little too hard, reaching into a nearby cupboard for some cereal and paste for Tali.

"You seen anyone come in here for it?" I ask.

"I've not been here long," Garrus shrugs. "And it's just been me. So, no, I haven't seen anyone eating it."

It's like a side-quest now. Find out who ate the damn ice-cream. God, I'm pathetic. "This is really pissing me off now," I say, but I can't help laughing at how much this is annoying me. Then again, this stuff doesn't exactly come cheap…and the fact whoever's taking it doesn't just have the decency to ask is the worst part. "I'm taking this back to Tali, give her a bit of a briefing on what to expect on Ilos for half an hour or so before we start getting ready. You want to come with?"

"Sure. Just killing time, anyway," Garrus nods. "Lead the way."

So I do.

############

"Wait, so the Citadel's actually a giant Mass Relay?" Garrus asks incredulously, as he, Tali and I descend in the elevator towards the garage and equipment lockers, where we're all meeting up. "That's…erm…disturbing." In the past half an hour, I managed to snack my way through breakfast, and explained to Tali and Garrus the basics of Ilos. Enemies, basic idea of what's going to happen…just so they're prepared. Then again, most of Ilos is just shooting a metric ton of geth and trying not to die, so we're all prepared for that anyway. Right now, I'm just kinda psyched to try the new helmet on for reals.

"Yep," I nod. "Tell me about it. Then Sovereign's gonna attack the Citadel, but we'll follow Saren through the Conduit and onto it. Well, provided she can drive the Mako fast enough. Though the jump is going to wreck it." Garrus groans quietly. "Probably should have told you that before you tuned it. Still, don't want to ruin our record for it, right?"

"Spirits forbid," Garrus chuckles.

"The way you describe it makes everything sound so simple," Tali says slowly. "Like it's not anything special."

I shake my head. If only it really _were _simple… "That's because we don't have geth shooting at us, explosions everywhere, and all the other crap that makes this so bloody dangerous. Words can't do it justice. Trust me, it's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows." I grin slightly, as the lift doors finally open. "Not that I'm trying to put a downer on things."

"Of course not," Tali chuckles. "See you on the mission, then."

"Time to finish Saren," Garrus mutters, as we all stroll out and to our respective lockers. I'm about to say something back…but I notice Wrex sidle up next to me as I reach into the locker for the armour, so keep my trap stuff.

"Ian," Wrex mutters. "You have a good night?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, slightly suspiciously. "Since when did you ask questions like that?"

"Since when did you have a quarian girlfriend?"

"And now I see why you asked." I grab the armour from the locker, dragging it out from the case and releasing some clasps on it so I can actually wear it. "I had a great night, Wrex, thanks."

"Did you…do it with her?" Oh, come on, Wrex…he's not that immature, is he?

I sigh, turning to face him. "We have done many things together, Wrex. We've been to get food, we've talked, hugged. So, I suggest you drop this blatant attempt to annoy me, and talk about more pressing matters." Wrex grunts huffily. Good. "If you want to wind someone up using that, though, try Garrus."

"Might do that," he chuckles. "So, you ready for this?"

I've managed to get my arms into the armour, locking the clasps, as I fiddle around with the leg bits and try to answer Wrex at the same time. "Yep. Blow up some geth, bring Saren down, bask in the limelight and glory afterwards."

"You're optimistic."

"Better than the alternative," I shrug, finally managing to get the suit on as a whole.

"Could be our last mission," Wrex grunts. "So I've got a question. Something you've never told me."

Huh? "And what would that be?"

"What's your surname?"

Really? I never told him that? I never even realised… "It's Shaw," I grin. "Ian Shaw." Alright…now to see if the helmet works. "Now, watch this. You'll love it." Wrex gives me a bit of a confused look, as I press down on the button on my right wrist. Immediately, I feel the metal slide out from the helmet, pushing my hair up against my head at the back as it slides up my chin…the various bits sliding across my face, metal surprisingly warm and the feeling not unpleasant, like I was expecting. Finally, it slides down to my forehead…and the visor descends, low hum as the HUD powers up.

My vision's just as clear as normal, thank Christ…no tinted vision, except now I'm getting small readouts all across it. Bar for weapon overheat, a blue percentage in the lower right of my vision shows my shield status, thankfully at 100%, vitals…oh, and it's got the vitals of Shepard and the rest of the squad in the left as well, though they go transparent if there's someone standing behind them. I know our suits can identify their own readouts…but I don't even know how Laet's made it show up on my visor. The man's a genius…though I don't want to inflate his ego any more by actually telling him that.

There's a low whistle from across the garage, as Shepard walks into my field of vision. "Even I'll admit, that's pretty nice," she smiles. "When did you get that done?"

"While we were on shore leave," I say, voice distorted only a tiny amount by the helmet as it comes out. The little robotic edge to it just makes everything feel even more badass, though. "This is totally my thing, though. I don't want you stealing it."

"Suit yourself," Shepard laughs, walking over to Garrus and giving him a little wink. "Hey."

"Hi," he says a little awkwardly. "How are you?"

"Fine," Shepard says, still smiling at him. "A little disappointed about not seeing you next to me when I woke up, but hopefully we'll have some time to correct that after the mission."

Garrus's fringe flushes an extremely deep blue.

"You realise you said that out loud, right?" I say. "In front of everyone."

Shepard shrugs. "I figured you all knew by now. And you shouldn't be listening in, anyway! Haven't we got a mission to prepare for?"

I lower the helmet away, already feeling a little weird now there's no HUD…damn, I play too many video games. "That's the impression I was under." I grab both pistols and the relevant holsters, breathing in deeply. Funny to think, this is probably the last time I'm gonna need these…at least, for a little while.

"When you're all ready, meet up by the airlock," Shepard says, grabbing her weapons as we all get prepared for action. She's decided to take everyone on the mission, as far as I can tell…boy, this ought to be a fun Mako ride. Just so long as I'm not sharing a seat with Liara. Awkward… "Pressly says he's got something to tell us."

###########

It's actually pretty harrowing looking out of the cockpit window as we all gather around the CIC…since there's way too many geth ships out there hanging around Ilos for comfort. Then again, at least they're not shooting at us. Yet.

"This ought to be interesting," I mutter, as Pressly and Shepard start talking about

"Define interesting," Wrex says back under his voice.

"Oh my God, we're all going to die?"

Wrex just laughs, Pressly shakes his head firmly at Shepard. "Negative, Commander. Nearest landing zone's two clicks away."

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Shepard growls. "No way we'll make it in time on foot. It's got to be closer than that." Come on, Joker, be a hero…

"There is nowhere closer!" Pressly almost shouts back, sounding pissed. "And even if we dropped you in the Mako, you'd need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to do a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty!"

"Do we not keep parachutes on board the ship?" I ask sardonically, mainly because I kinda like winding up Pressly. "For this kind of situation?"

Pressly just gawps at me. "Parachutes? Are you from the twenty first century, or something?" Oh, you don't know half of it, mate… "It's a suicide drop, Commander!"

"I can do it," Joker suddenly says from the pilot's seat, not raising his voice, not even turning around, but the sheer determination in his tone making everyone turn to look at him.

Shepard raises an eyebrow at him…but she's smiling as she does so. "Joker? You sure?"

"I can do it," he repeats. I don't think there's anyone in here that doubts it. Then again, Tali, Garrus and I already know he can…so admittedly it's a little skewed already. Whatever.

"Good man," Shepard grins, then turns to look at us. "You heard him! Everyone in the Mako, now! We're gonna drop right on top of the bastard's head."

Ha, drop on his head. Great. Now I'm thinking about Angry Birds.

##########

We all stand in the elevator down to the garage, seeing the wall slowly pass us by. I whistle some lift music.

"They didn't really build these things with urgency in mind, did they?"

"Ian," Shepard says, turning to face me. "Shut up."

##########

We're all finally packed into the Mako, and the seating positions are…well, it's not exactly spacious. 'Cosy', as an estate agent would probably put it. Tali and I are sharing a seat, though to be fair I'm not exactly complaining about that, while Wrex gets a seat of his own, as does Liara. Kaidan and Garrus are sharing, too…which I'm not exactly sure is the best idea, after their 'talk' back on the Normandy. But whatever.

Joker's said three minutes until we reach the drop point…and the final battle begins. Man, it's gonna get obscenely epic, very quickly. The geth fights on Ilos aren't exactly giving me much to worry about, since I'm getting somewhat confident about my geth killing capabilities now (and for good reason), but the frenzied drive the Conduit, actually taking the Relay through to the Citadel, and fighting in zero g…God, I could have done with some thrusters on my boots for zero g movement, couldn't I? Too late now…I'll just try not to jump.

And finally, killing Saren. Or getting him to kill himself. Whatever. At least I'll be able to fulfil Ash's last request…and do something for her. Even if fighting the implanted husk Saren isn't exactly appealing, given how fast the bastard moves in-game. But seven of us should be able to take him down. Right?

"Uh, Garrus…" Kaidan suddenly says, as the turian turns to look at him. God, I hope he doesn't make some kind of scene… "About yesterday. I'm sorry. For blowing up like that."

Garrus doesn't say anything. Aw, and Kaidan's actually trying to apologise! I knew he wasn't a dick!

"I…well, I didn't realise you felt that way about Shepard," he continues, talking quietly, trying not to actually draw the attention of the Commander herself. Which seems to be working, since she's messing around with some of the buttons on the Mako dashboard. "I wasn't exactly in a good place about it, though."

"You were angry at me?" Garrus asks.

"I don't even think I was," Kaidan mutters. "Angry at myself, I guess." Angry at himself? Eh? Why would that be? "I just…" he sighs, then shakes his head, obviously not wanting to explain it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did."

Garrus's eyes narrow slightly, mandibles widening…then he breaks into a smile. "Apology accepted, Kaidan. I suppose you were just looking out for Shepard, after all, trying to keep her mind on the mission."

"Yeah," Kaidan laughs, though it's a little humourless. "The mission." Aw, Kaidan still kinda has feelings for her, as far as I can tell…but I doubt he'll pursue them now Shepard and Garrus are together. And he's man enough to apologise to Garrus about it. He's a good guy. "Didn't want any hard feelings going into the mission, anyway."

"Hey, I ought to be thanking you," Garrus laughs. "I probably wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't prompted me." For a second, I'm worried that might make Kaidan snap again…but instead he just laughs too, and it's genuine. Yeah. I guess he'll get past it.

"Well, thank Christ for that," I grin, trying to lighten the mood a bit more. "I hate seeing people argue. It's like we're all one big, happy family again."

Kaidan shakes his head at me. "You're in far, far too much of a good mood today, kid."

"Is that some kind of bad thing?"

Joker's voice coming through the intercom cuts him off, though, and snaps all of us to attention. This really is it now. "_Drop in twenty seconds, Commander." _If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's eating something. Goddammit, on the most risky drop ever, he's _eating?_

"Joker, you might want to save the snackin' until after this goes well?" I suggest.

"_Roger that. I'll just move the bowl," _he replies, as we heard indeed the sound of a bowl being shifted to one side. _"I suppose ice cream can wait until I've proven myself to be a brilliant pilot. Once again."_

Wait. Did he just say ice cream?

"Joker…" I say slowly. "Where did you get that ice cream."

There's a slight pause. "_From the fridge. I find once I empty it, it magically refills after every shore leave. Why?"_

"Right, fuck this," I say, jolly mood evaporating. Joker? The little bastard! I'm definitely making good on my promise to snap the thief now! "I shoulda known it was you! No-one steals another grown man's ice cream and gets away with it!" I can hear Tali laughing quietly next to me, Garrus smirking from his seat next to Kaidan…while the Lieutenant himself and Shepard are laughing full out as well. Even Liara and Wrex are chuckling, for fuck's sake!

"_Drop now, Commander," _Joker says, a little quickly. _"Good luck."_ Before I can shout anything else at the pilot, the Mako jumps forward just as the garage doors open wide, and the landscape opens up before us.

Ilos looks as hauntingly beautiful as ever…and I can see Saren and the geth walking into the facility!

But Jesus, that's not much room to land at all! Whole landing site is flanked by rocks…and a massive wall in front if we miss.

In the words of Simon from the Yogscast, 'ooh, shit.'

There's a sudden lurch in my stomach as we drop, wall rushing towards us…God, maybe me buying ice-cream and Joker eating it changed canon so he fucked up! No, no, we're going to make it…

The Mako impacts the ground with a solid thud, bouncing me hard in the seat…just as the door closes on Saren. With a curse, Shepard piles on the brakes and we slide to a halt.

Wow. That was intense.

"Damn it!" she yells, punching the steering wheel, then slowly her breathing and calming down. "Say what you will about Joker, he's a good pilot."

"He's a thieving prick!" I shout, but everyone just ignores me.

Looks like we're going on foot for now, see if we can get that gate open." Shepard finally mutters, popping up the Mako doors.

"Right," I mutter. Anger at Joker can wait...right now, we've got something even bigger than ice cream going down. "Time for some thrilling heroics," I grin, then leap out with both pistols drawn, setting the helmet assembling across my head as I do so as we head up to the narrow cut…and two geth charge out immediately at us. They're just troopers, though. Bad idea.

The helmet actually identifies it as a hostile, highlighting the geth as I bring both pistols up at it, sprinting for a bit of cover just to my right, shooting as I go. I'm registering hits to my shields, the value dropping to 73%...but the geth's go down far, far quicker under our combined firepower as I slide behind the cover. Quick tap on my omni-tool, and I unleash an Overload that sends the geth sparking to the ground, accompanied with a curse from Garrus. He must still be counting our kills, then…

Shit, I swear there was two geth, though. I quickly scan the battlefield ahead for it…then feel a rattle of assault rifle fire impact my armour from below, making me reel back. Fuck, the geth was on the other side of my cover! The impact's sent a shockwave up my left arm, numbing it, and part of a round's grazed my right wrist…but it doesn't stop me dashing forward at the geth, placing one hand on the cover and launching into a vaulting kick at it.

Bam. My foot impacts with a surprisingly solid crunch, knocking the geth to the ground…where Wrex finishes it off with a casual shotgun blast as he runs past, moving up the battlefield. Damn, geth heads are _solid! _That made my foot hurt!

Probably best to snipe now, though, as it looks like a lot of geth up ahead…though Shepard manages to bowl two of them over with a biotic push, the force of which knocks the head of one of them clean off as it hits the side of a crate. I wouldn't want to see that happen to an organic…I press my back against the cool, hard rock, ducking slightly to avoid the geth fire. Visor says everyone's vitals are fine…Garrus's shields are out completely, but thankfully the turian's hiding behind cover for a bit, blindfiring over the top as he waits for them to recharge. Good man. That should let me…

I lean out, quickly bringing the scope up to my eye and nailing one shock trooper with a headshot. Oh yeah! It's becoming second nature now, I swear…

"Geth armatures!" I hear Tali yell above the din of battle. Wait, _what? _Dealing with them is definitely not second nature! And I don't feel like climbing one and knifing the cords again!

"Where is it?" I shout back.

"To the left! And not it, they!" They? No…but that's plural! I steal a quick glance around the corner, and true enough…two geth armatures.

For fuck's sake. It's like BioWare _want _me dead. I wish I remembered ME1 as well as I remember 2...pistols are gonna cut it better than the sniper here, though, since I should go for damage per second rather than raw power. I spin out of cover, quickly pressing the triggers…only to get knocked off my feet by the shockwave from an armature's cannon shot which impacts the ground next to me. Ow, fuck! I land clumsily, pretty much on my head…but fortunately the helmet takes the impact for me and I convert it into a forward roll behind a crate. Well, hopefully if people were looking, that seemed deliberate.

How to take care of these, though? Should require some careful planning, thought…

There's suddenly an enormous explosion on one of the armatures, and its head goes flying off into the distance. What the fuck? I whirl around…and there's Wrex, wielding a rocket launcher and one huge grin.

Actually, screw planning. A krogan with rocket launcher solves _all _of life's problems. The second armature turns its head towards Wrex…just as he readies a second shot.

Yeah. Sorry, mate, you're screwed. Wrex pulls the trigger, and that geth follows exactly the same fate as his friend.

Actually, this raises a question… "Where the hell did you get a rocket launcher?" I yell over to him.

"Where do you think?" he shouts back. "From one of the geth rocket troops! You think I pulled it out my ass or something?" I sigh, turning back to the battlefield. Can always trust Wrex for an informative, mature answer…but plenty of time to talk to him later. Right now, there's a lull in the storm, but if we're ever gonna get that gate open we ought to throw ourselves back in.

#################

Tali expertly shotguns the last geth's head off one handed, the other used less than a second previously to Overload its shields. Impressive.

"Think that's the last of 'em," Shepard mutters, "at least, for now." Fighting through the geth to reach the elevator was _way _harder than I expected. I mean, it wasn't any different to how we normally deal with things…just the sheer volume of the bastards caught me by surprise. We've all got a few scratches to show for it, as well…I can't see it particularly well under the armour, but I know I'm gonna have some cuts on my arms, and a flesh wound from a round to the shoulder. That one fucking _stung. _"Ian, Garrus, Tali, head down the elevator and see if you can find anything to get that gate open back where we started!"

Huh? That's not how this is supposed to go! "You sure? Who knows what we'll find down there?"

"That's why I'm sending you, to find out," she replies, a little sarcastically. "Tell me if you find anything, but I expect Saren isn't just going to let us poke around here until we find something. We'll hold off any geth that followed us here! Now go!" Fuck, no point arguing with her…and she's not exactly going to miss much. Just that Prothean VI thing, but I already have a vague idea of what it says, so we'll be fine. And crossing Shepard is generally a bad idea.

"Alright," I say, giving her a nod. Kinda nice she trust me enough to take a small team down, though. Then again, Tali and I are an item, and Garrus and I are best mates. It's not exactly like it ought to be a massive challenge commanding loyalty from them.

I lower the helmet as we walk into the elevator…and just as we start to descend and the doors begin to close, I hear a yell of 'more geth!' from Shepard, and the sound of gunfire. Shit. We'd better make this quick, then.

Garrus fixes me with a look as we descend. "You didn't mention this back on the Normandy."

"That's because it didn't happen exactly like this," I sigh. "But it doesn't matter. Shouldn't change canon too bad. At least we'll be able to open up the door through to Saren and the Conduit from here. So, this prove I'm not bullshitting?"

"Yeah, it does," he nods, smiling. "Not that I thought you were lying at first, of course."

"Of course."

"So, what kind of resistance can we expect to find down there?" Tali asks. Thank Christ this elevator ride is taking so long…we can at least talk rather than being shot at.

Though, that is quite a question. "There'll be geth," I say unsurely. "But other than that I don't really remember. Sorry. Just get ready to shoot."

"Nice and helpful, Ian," Garrus chuckles, as we finally reach the floor, and draw our weapons.

"I do my best," I grin, though the smile quickly vanishes when I see what's ahead. Geth primes, shock troopers…bloody hell, that's not great. And a load of armatures lining the walls! But they're deactivated. And the terminals next to them are glowing rather invitingly.

Idea…

We all break for cover, helmet sliding up and over my face. Looks like having a squad of three tech people is gonna be pretty damn useful. "Those terminals by the armitures are hackable!" I yell over the din of gunfire, opening up omni-tool. True enough, I can get remote access to the terminal addresses with in the room. Awesome! "Remote access them! We can turn them on these guys!"

"Got it!" Tali shouts back, Garrus saying nothing, just opening his omni-tool and staring at it intently, obviously starting the hack already. Here goes nothing…I can hear the geth getting closer, as I start off an automated hack module.

Not working. Shit. I take a quick glance around cover, and there's about fifty or forty metres between us, three geth primes and some rocket launcher guys. I don't fancy those odds.

Alright, there's firewalls all over the place here…but the technology's not exactly high on power, since it's a mobile device. So, if I just assault every firewall at once, it should weaken their integrity enough to slip under the radar. At least, in theory.

I set a basic module off at almost every angle, leaving myself one route in, while the firewall steels itself against my assault. Need time for it to work, though…

"How's it going?" I shout over, Garrus frowning at his screen and Tali typing furiously away. Neither reply. Hopefully, that's a good sign…don't know how, but I can hope. Only fifteen or so metres now…and a bullet clips my helmet as I look out, whipping my neck around slightly as I leap back. Damn it! Gotta try it now, else I'm gonna be all out of time.

I send the advanced module down my one route, just hoping. The display remains as emotionless as ever, as I work my way through…geth steps getting closer by the second. Then, suddenly, there's a bleep, and a whole range of options fill my screen. That's it, I've taken control! I hear a triumphant noise from Tali nearby, so she's obviously in too. Right, set the friend/foe thing to attack geth, remain stationary…use the cannon. Time to unleash hell on the fuckers.

I take a look around again, just in time to see one of the Primes blown off his synthetic feet by a cannon blast, a rocket trooper torn to pieces next to him by the one she's controlling. Oh yeah! Garrus finally shouts something in turian, sounding happy, as one more armature comes to life.

There's a series of explosions and gunfire, as the geth turn to their attention to the armatures, which lasts about thirty seconds. And we definitively come out on top.

"The hack module is mightier than the gun, it would seem," I grin. "Took down about six geth without firing a shot. That's gotta be worth something."

"Yeah, but how often do we get to hack an extremely powerful war machine?" Garrus points out. Sheesh, such a downer. "I think I'll stick to guns, thanks."

I shrug. "You might have something, there. It's just good there's more than one way to go into a fight, though. Kill with skill, rather than just shooting people over and over again. Come on, the security station should just be up here."

We walk up the ramp into the security station…though it's a far cry from what it probably used to be, seeing as it's covered in exotic flora. Still, it's nice looking. Unlike the creepy Prothean statues scattered around this place. Ugh. Hopefully the security station ain't dulled with age, though…I walk up to it, pressing the solitary button on it.

"Will that open the way to Saren?" Tali asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "But it's gonna spawn this Prothean VI thing too. It's fine, I've got a vague idea of what he says, since we won't be able to understand him. He's talking Prothean."

"That VI?" Garrus says, pointing behind me. I whirl around…and true enough, there it is. Alright, time to pretend to hear some warning about the Reapers.

"_Unable to…invading fleets…no escape…"_

Shit. That definitely just came out as English to me.

"Uh, guys…" I say slowly, turning around. "We may have hit something I wasn't expecting."

Garrus cocks his head to the side slightly. "What?"

"I understood everything that thing just said. Which means I've had a Prothean Cipher in my head for two and a half years."

Well. Wasn't expecting that.

**A/N: Woo, back into action! Which is nice, after all the interactions we've been having so recently…even if I do enjoy writing them quite a bit.**

**So, with that bombshell, it's the end of the chapter. Next time, more progression on Ilos! And a conversation with Vigil…but it won't go quite like how you probably remember it. You'll see.**

**Oh yeah, and Ian's official canon name now (full name) is Ian Shaw. Finally relented to people saying starring out the surname sucks, hahaha. **

**So, thanks for reading, reviewing, and I'll see you next chapter! The final parts of MtM2 are upon us!**


	37. Ian vs The Long Term

Chapter 37

Primal Scream: Can't Go Back

I'm not really sure what to do or say, except sort of gawp at the spot where the VI briefly appeared. I mean, in an audio message from a Prothean VI…my day just got flipped kinda upside down. A Prothean Cipher all this time? I…

Should have seen that coming. Now I think about it, this actually makes a lot of sense. It would explain why Shiala wasn't able to give me her Cipher on Feros, and how I can vaguely understand the visions I've been getting all this time. But, seeing as they started when I came into this universe, there's only one person who could've given it to me.

And to think I was worried about Shiara being pissed off at _me._

"So, erm…where did you get that?" Garrus asks slowly, bringing me out of my trance-like state just staring at where the VI fragment was.

"Bought it off the fucking extranet," I shoot back, a little too tetchily, from Garrus's disapproving frown. "Sorry, sorry. This is just…well, it's kinda big news."

"You don't say," Tali mutters. "The whole knowledge of their race locked in your head…and you didn't even _notice?_"

I throw my arms up in the air. "How often do I have to listen to someone speaking Prothean? The visions should have been a bloody giveaway, but they're prophetic! I didn't know Protheans had some way of predicting the bloody future!"

"Look, let's all calm down here," Garrus interrupts. Actually, if Garrus of all people is trying to cool a situation down, maybe I'm getting a little _too _wound up. "Trace it back, Ian. How did it happen?"

"I know fine well," I say, bringing my mood back down to normal levels. Bit of a shock, finding that out…but at least it makes sense. Not like I've been _totally _blindsided by it. "Shiara must've given it to me in the initial meld that got me here. Dammit, why didn't she tell me?"

"I've got a bigger question," Tali suddenly says. "Where did she get it?" Actually, that's a bloody good point.

"The Thorian?" Garrus suggests. "That's the one source we know of."

I shake my head. "I highly doubt the Thorian just gave that kind of thing out. Far as I know, Saren's the only organic it ever told directly. God knows what it saw in him…but there can't be many places with a Cipher knocking about, can there?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Garrus admits. "There's not much chance of us finding out how she did it, is there?"

"Nope," I frown. "I mean, short of asking her. Which I might do. But I guess it's not really important where she got it…just that I have it. Though all it's doing is giving me headaches, visions I don't really get, and letting me understand Prothean." Maybe Shiara will enlighten me further when I talk to her next…though she was hardly helpful in the hospital after the red sand incident. Something already tells me this is probably going to raise more questions than answers…

"How are you going to ask Shiara?" Tali asks. "I mean, the last time you talked to her was about a year or so ago, you said…"

I smile ruefully, turning for the door out of the security room. I think we're all done here, and we can solve this mystery after we take Saren down. "Believe me, she finds out just about everything. And once she's worked out I've told people the truth, I won't have to worry about finding her. She'll find me. It's probably not going to be the happiest reunion."

"I can imagine," Garrus chuckles. "The asari who brings you here, turns your life upside down, and then doesn't tell you about a Cipher? Can't see you hugging and kissing when you meet up." We jog down the ramp towards the elevator, since as I remember it Shepard was dealing with geth up there when we went down here…

"Oh, I dunno. I could always give her a Glasgow kiss," I grin. Garrus looks confused as we pile into the lift, and Tali's body language suggests she's probably got the same expression he has. Which shouldn't exactly come as too much of a surprise. "That's a headbutt."

Garrus grins, and Tali laughs as we start to ascend.

##############

"Holy _crap, _Shepard, you're good," I say, awestruck at the carnage laid out before us on the surface. Geth limbs and parts everywhere, some still sparking on the ground, two Primes and one armature folded up next to a rock, and floor singed from rocket launcher explosions.

"Course I am. What do you think I did in N7 training?" the Commander smiles. "Sit around eating and playing video games?"

I raise an eyebrow. "You are suspiciously good at them."

Shepard laughs, then her expression turns serious again. "We heard some noise back from where we came from, so…"

"We opened the security door to follow Saren," Garrus informs her. "Killed some geth Primes as well."

"That's my man," Shepard winks at him. Garrus blushes. As usual. "Alright, back to the Mako, double time!" We set off at a pretty quick run in the direction we came from, but it's actually fairly comfortable. Being a soldier for two months does remarkable things for your fitness, and I wasn't exactly in bad shape while I was at C-Sec, either. I keep pace next to Wrex…who's still clutching his new prized possession.

"Still keeping hold of that rocket launcher, then?" I ask, as Wrex turns his head slightly to look at me. "I'm not sure whether that's a good thing to have in the Mako, though. I mean, if someone accidentally jolts the trigger if we go over a bump or something…"

"Risk worth taking," Wrex grunts. "I've always wanted something like this. Don't know why I didn't buy one before."

"Because they're impractical to just carry around, and you're as likely to kill your allies with it at close to medium range than you are the enemy?"

Wrex glares at me slightly.

"But you're too good to do that, of course…" I mutter. "We have a krogan with a rocket launcher, though. I don't really see what I'm complaining about, now that I think about it."

The krogan in question grins widely. "Knew you'd come around to my way of thinking. If Saren's got any sense, he'll shoot himself before I can get to him with this." He suddenly frowns, shaking his head. "No, rocket's too quick. Draw it out first, maybe tear off one of those stupid mandibles, mount his head on a pike, take it back to Tuchanka…"

"You know, as fun as that sounds, maybe you should keep it to yourself," I quickly interrupt. If something involves taking a turian's head and then taking it to Tuchanka…I don't want to know what comes next. "Don't want to spoil the surprise for me."

"If you're sure," Wrex says, almost sounding a little disappointed, as we head down the final straight towards the Mako. Well, this was a nice respite where I haven't had to shoot something for…ooh, five minutes? I'm fairly sure the Mako trip ought to rectify that problem. Up ahead, Liara and Tali have already leaped in, so I put on an extra burst of speed to catch up, looking into the huge road laid out in front of us.

From here, it gets really damn serious. And to think I'll be jumping through a Mass Relay in a Mako about twenty minutes or so from now.

Well. This ought to be interesting.

##########

"Ow, fuck!" I shout, along with a few grunts of pain from other squad members, as the Mako springs over yet _another _bump in the road. Goddammit! The Protheans were supposed to be this technologically advanced species, and the Romans built better roads than this shit! "Shepard, are you aiming for the rocks?"

"Just for you, Ian," she shoots back, not even looking around as we manoeuvre down the hill. "Got to do something to make it exciting. I was expecting some kind of geth ambush, but maybe Saren's in too much of a rush to get to the Conduit."

"I, for one, am not complaining," Liara says. "It is nice to be able to look at this place without being shot at. The architecture is…fascinating."

Wrex looks at her like she has two heads, or something. "Fascinating? It's creepy. This whole place puts me on edge."

"A krogan commenting on architecture," Garrus chuckles. "Funny, since your planet is made of…rock, isn't it?"

Sure, Wrex glares at him, but it's a sign of how far their friendship has come that the krogan doesn't just punch him in the face.

"He might have you there, Wrex," I laugh. "Sorry, Liara, I'm not exactly mad about how this place looks either." Liara just nods, then looks away from me. Shit…looks like she's still in a bad mood about yesterday. In a way, silent disapproval is worse than her just shouting at me. It's what I was expecting, anyway.

"Keelah…" Tali suddenly says, sounding awestruck as she points out the windscreen. "What are _they? _On the walls?"

"They look like containers," Shepard muses. Hell, I know what they are, and if it was just Tali and Garrus in the Mako I'd probably tell them…but oh well. Let the rest guess. We'll find out soon enough, anyway. "I can't say what for, though."

"Maybe stasis pods?" Garrus suggests. Oh, wow, he is good! Got it in one, I think. "The Protheans might have tried to keep themselves alive through cryogenic freezing."

I laugh, though it's a little morbid. "That worked out well for them, seeing as they're extinct now. Hey, what's that, though? Some kind of light, getting clos-"

"SHIT, missile!" Shepard yells, swerving us narrowly out the way. "Ian! Turret! Now!"

I leap to my feet, vaulting up and into the gunners seat. Oh God… "Are you sure this is the best idea? I mean, I just mistook a rocket for a light! That's not good!"

"Just fire!" everyone below shouts. Fine, fine…I line up a rocket, sending it soaring through the air and eliminating the three geth firing on us with one shot. Triple kill, in the bag!

"Garrus!" I shout down, as we keep pushing forward…oh, there's another rocket trooper! I quickly take it down with a burst of machine gun fire, then turn my attention back to the turian. "Are you still keeping count of our kills? You, Wrex and I?"

"Yeah!" he shouts back. "You're on ninety-one from the missions all three of us have been on…I'm on eighty-three and Wrex is on ninety-five! Mako kills don't count, though!" Oh, wow, I could actually win this! Provided Wrex reigns himself in, which is unlikely, considering he now has a rocket launcher. Curses!

No more geth, though, as we progress down yet another hall of those stasis pods…not that there needs to be any, seeing as there's something there far more suited to halting our progress. A fucking forcefield. Admittedly, Vigil needs some way to stop us, but effectively building a wall is a little obnoxious. Plus, there's one behind us.

Kaidan's immediately on edge. "Is this some kind of ambush? Where did Saren get a force-field?"

"I don't think this is Saren," Garrus mutters, though admittedly he _knows _it's not Saren because I told him and Tali before the mission. "If he wanted to trap us, he could have used this before. And there's a doorway over there." He points towards the glowing arch, leading to the elevator…and Vigil. With his epic revelation for Shepard and the rest of us. Well, the ones who don't already know.

"Looks like we don't have a choice," Shepard says, and I see her frowning as we all get out of the Mako. She'll probably be wildly suspicious of this, and I can't exactly blame her. I mean, I sure as hell was. "Follow me, but keep your weapons ready for any sign of geth." Right she is…I just slide out one pistol, keeping it low in a two handed grip as we walk into the elevator, and Shepard presses the button to descend. I'm not gonna need it, but even so, it feels oddly reassuring to hold.

"So, what do you think we'll find down here, Ian?" Garrus suddenly asks, making eye contact with me, and quickly winking. Come on, Garrus! It's not a joke that I know what's going to happen! Grr…

"Well, _mate_," I say, glaring at him in as subtle a way as possible, "if a forcefield like that just targeted us now, I'd expect it was something useful."

Wrex chuckles next to me. "You expect? Or you hope?"

"We haven't had many allies in the places we've been, kid," Kaidan says grimly. "I'd be surprised to find someone on our side." Well, prepared to be surprised, Alenko…

"Actually, Ian's making quite a lot of sense to me there," Shepard says. "We just _happen _to stop by this elevator, which could be taking us to our deaths…but Saren could have just flooded the area with geth and then set off the field. I don't know."

"Well, we're about to find out," Tali says, as the elevator finally starts to slow…then suddenly stops, catching me by surprise and making me fall over. Damn it! I knew it was coming too! I stand back up, brushing myself down, while Shepard and the others laugh slightly and we head down the ramp…to where Vigil's waiting.

Well, at least I managed to lighten the mood. Even if it was by making an ass of myself.

"It's that VI we saw back in the security room," Garrus says to Shepard, as we approach.

"You saw a Prothean VI and didn't think that was worth reporting back?"

"Erm…no?"

"I'd like to see what is, then," Shepard chuckles to Garrus, as we finally reach Vigil. Here we go, the startling revelation of the Citadel Relay shall be revealed.

"You. You are not a machine. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warnings through the beacons," Vigil says, addressing Shepard. Oh, exposition time, here we come…Garrus, Tali and I are standing away from the rest of the crew slightly, so I lower my voice to a whisper as I talk.

"He's going to tell Shepard all about the Citadel relay, what the Conduit does, all that stuff," I explain, taking a quick glance over my shoulder. Good. Nobody's looking. "After this, we're gonna make a break for the Conduit itself, then…"

Garrus rolls his eyes at me. "Do a Mass Relay jump onto the Citadel. I was listening the first time you told us."

"Oh," I say, a little shocked. "That's, uh...good."

"We're ready, Ian," Tali says. "Finally going to finish everything with Saren. Keelah…after all this time, it comes down to the next hour or so."

"If that," I shrug. "I mean, it's mainly just fighting from here on in. A bit of a rest here is surprisingly welcome, actually."

Kaidan suddenly turns around to look at us. "Some of us are trying to listen here, kid," he whispers. Oh yeah. Whoops. Sorry, Kaidan. Man, now I feel like one of those assholes who talk at the theatre…

"Wait, the Reapers could wipe out the entire Council and the Citadel fleet in one attack!" Shepard suddenly says. Loud. Guess Vigil spilled the beans on the Citadel being a trap, then…

"Our leaders were dead before we even realised we were under attack," Vigil explains. For a VI, he sounds…really quite sad. Then again, his personality is based off the Prothean who ran the facility. "The Reapers took control of the Citadel and the Mass Relays. From there, it was only a matter of time until they had full dominance. Each star system was cut off, isolated…then destroyed by the Reaper fleets."

"No-one survived?" Shepard asks. "At all?"

The VI flickers in front of us, showing no emotion, but the voice does a face's job more than well. "They had access to everything. Our information, maps…information is power, and they knew everything about us. Some worlds they destroyed, others enslaved. Within a few centuries, they had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy." Bloody hell…a few centuries with Reapers around? Even the threat of them in dark space worries the hell out of me, never mind hundreds of years with them actually inhabiting the galaxy.

"You said I was here for a reason," Shepard says firmly. "Tell me what I need to do." Good thing she's not hanging about, since Saren's getting closer to the Conduit as we speak…hell, he's probably through the damn thing by now.

And so Vigil explains. The role of the Conduit in getting through the Citadel as a back-door. How Ilos was a top-secret facility for Mass Relay research, where they created a small scale version of a relay. The role of the stasis pods…and the people who died in them, never waking up from their cryogenic sleep. That the Prothean scientists found a way of altering the Reaper's signal so the Citadel keepers wouldn't open the Relay…and that Sovereign's plan is to use the Conduit to open it manually.

Throughout the conversation, I see the facial expressions of the rest of the crew go through shock, denial, outrage, hope…and finally acceptance as Vigil starts to finish up. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would almost be funny. "Can you help me, then?" Shepard asks, after Vigil is done explaining. "Tell me how to stop Sovereign?"

"There's a data file in my console. Take a copy when you go. When you get to the Citadel's master control unit, upload it to the station," the VI explains. "It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against Sovereign." There it is…now we have a plan. Just a matter of seeing if it comes together. I love it when they do.

Shepard quickly glances over at me. "Ian? Any mention of a Citadel control unit when you were at C-Sec?"

"Nope," I reply quickly, taken by surprised by the question and shaking my head. Faintly, though Vigil doesn't have a face, I could swear it's somehow looking at me…then the feeling goes, almost as soon as it came. Huh. Weird.

"Follow Saren through the Conduit," the VI says, and there's a sense of urgency creeping into the voice. "He will show you the way." Alright, time to kick it! Last push to end Saren's plans…

"Wait," Shepard suddenly says. "I have a question. The beacons on Eden Prime, Virmire…and the visions. What are they for?"

"Once the Reapers had left, the survivors here decided to risk sending out a message," Vigil explains. "We knew it was unlikely there were any other survivors. But if there were, we vowed to let them know, to give them hope. So a message was sent across the network of beacons. "We did not think the beacons were still functioning, but we had to try. If there were any survivors, we had to reach them. It was meant for own people…and coded so only organics could understand it." Ah, cunning! Then again, the Protheans managed to make a small scale mass relay…so it should be fairly obvious the people here were intelligent enough to think of something like that. My bad.

Kaidan chuckles humourlessly next to me. "But you weren't expecting someone under Reaper indoctrination."

"No," Vigil admits. "But it has also led you here. Our short-term plan was the altering of the signal to the keepers, and the data board that will grant temporary control. But the Reapers will find another way. So we had a long-term plan too, one that would end the Reaper threat forever." WHOA, hold on a second here! Long-term plan to end the Reapers for ever? I do not remember this shit from the game!

"Wait, another plan?" Shepard says quickly. "What? What do we need to do after we stop Sovereign?"

"The plan is…" Vigil starts to say, then suddenly stops. "Error. This data cannot be found, or has been erased." WHAT? You have got to be shitting me! A real game changer, something to do with a Prothean plan to end the Reapers that I had no idea about before, and he's LOST THE DATA?

We all gawp at it in disbelief. "The data file was designed to delete itself once accessed," Vigil explains. "From what I can glean, it was a desperate gamble. I do not know what it was. But the fact the data has been accessed suggests it may already be underway." No! This is a significant change, and I've got no way of knowing what it means for the future!

Oh my God…Shiara mentioned something about my purpose here being to stop the Reapers. What if this and that are related? What if I'm part of some Prothean plan?

And how would that even work? I'm not fifty thousand years old, last time I checked. I'm probably over-reacting on that part…but now I have a burning curiosity as to discovering what the hell Vigil is talking about. Damn! Nothing I can do about it, though.

"Fuck," Shepard mutters. "Well, we have this for now. Grab that data board, let's get out of here! Saren's got enough of a headstart as it is!"

Shit. And here I was, thinking I already knew everything I needed to know. First I find out about a Prothean Cipher, and now this…it's been a pretty mindblowing day. To say the least.

Time to top it off by travelling approximately half the length of the galaxy in a heartbeat. In a tank.

AWESOME.

"You never mentioned a long-term plan," Tali whispers to me, as we head up in the elevator again. Both of are standing at the far back…and it's a pretty big lift, so no-one's picked up on conversation. Thank Christ.

"That's because there wasn't one," I reply. "This isn't right. This isn't what I know."

"Is this things changing?" Tali asks, sounding worried. "Because of you telling Garrus and I?"

I shake my head. "I don't think it works like that. Telling you might change things that happen in the future, but the Protheans made this plan thousands upon thousands of years ago. I just…I don't like knowing what kind of impact it's going to have. Even if it's supposed to stop the Reapers."

"All we can do is wait and see," Tali says, putting an upbeat tone into her voice to try and cheer me up. Frankly, it works quite well. "It shouldn't change anything with what's happening now, anyway. It's long term. Like Vigil said."

"Guess you're right," I sigh, as the elevator doors open again. "Doesn't mean I can just ignore it, though."

Tali's reply gets cut off by a shout from Shepard for us to hurry up, so we dash over and into the Mako…and I head for the gun, without being prompted. We've got a hell of a drive up ahead. So we're gonna need one hell of a gunner.

##########

God, I still hate the Mako immensely. Especially when there's geth colossi and rockets being shot at us every five seconds, combined with the fact Shepard's in too much of a rush to slow down and let me aim…but we've managed to come through almost unscathed. Though we did almost flip at once, and I think Garrus might have thrown up on the floor because of it. But that seems unlikely.

Besides, my attention's taken up more with the sight in front of us, the enormous Mass Relay pointing into the sky just up ahead. And to think this is supposed to be small-scale…that said, we've still got a long way to go in the Mako to get there, down the massive hill we've now reached outside of the facility. Which has water running down it as well, for some reason.

No time to fucking take in the view, though. If memory serves…

"That thing is going to close real soon!" Shepard shouts. "Everyone, hold onto something, we're going as fast as we can! Ian, make sure we don't get blown up!" Yep, definitely no time to take in the view…

"On it!" I yell, whirling the gun around towards the geth below. I could probably shoot behind us to build momentum…but it's gonna be negligible once we hit the bottom and Shepard needs to take the turns. Focus on killing the geth and not dying.

"Here we go!" someone from below says, as the Mako leaps forward and down the hill. This is it…forty seconds to get through and save the world. And I do not plan on being on the wrong side of the Citadel once that time limit is up.

I let rip with the machine gun straight away as we go down, blitzing one of the colossi with fire straight away as we go down. Gotta wait until I've got a good shot for the rockets, since I can't wait for the cool-down if I miss…shit, it's firing a rocket! Shepard narrowly dodges, opting to jump the Mako over it rather than swerve, and we come crashing down, bouncing me in the seat hard as we do.

Ten seconds gone…but I've got a clear rocket shot now! Which goes straight into the geth colossus's face, or whatever the geth equivalent is. One down…just gotta suppress them until we reach the Conduit! "Ian!" Shepard yells from below. "Get them on the right!"

"There's three, Shepard, I'm trying! I'm trying!" I shout, desperately trying to spread my fire upon all three as we hurtle towards the Conduit. Not far now…fifty or a hundred meters, but it's been about twenty five seconds. _Shit,_ this is gonna be close! Rockets finally back…and yet another one of the colossi goes down to it. We're almost there now…

Then, just as we hit the ramp up to the Conduit, there's a judder as the Mako gets hit by a rocket on the back left wheels…and they slowly start to slide out. No no no! Not when we're this close! I can hear Shepard grunting with effort to twist us back around, but we're slowing too much now for us to stand a chance…

We hit the lip of the ramp side on, then there's a sudden lurch in my stomach as we go into the air, and I feel the Mako rolling through it. Jesus Christ, she fucking jumped the Mako when we hit the top of the ramp! We are literally doing a barrel roll into the Conduit! I can see it in the cannon's view now, five metres until impact, now one…

We suddenly come to a stop…then without warning, the Mako hurtles upwards at an unbelievable speed, g forces pushing me back into the seat. God, I can't breathe…I can feel the skin of my face being pushed back, don't know which way is up…need oxygen…

The last thing I see before I pass out is the faint blue tinge of whatever is carrying us through the turret's camera. Then nothing.

############

The first thing I see upon my eyes opening again is the roof of the Mako, just after the massive impact that wakes me up. Right. Remind me never to travel by Mass Relay _ever _again. It sucks. I groan as I prop myself up in the gunner's seat, popping the emergency hatch and trying to clamber out. Godammit, my back is killing me…and I'm still struggling to breathe after the Mass Relay trip.

But we're finally here. We made it through the Conduit…and the Battle of the Citadel has already begun. Time for me to make good on my promise to Ash. Time to end this.

Below me, I see Shepard and the rest of the crew crawling out, and a plethora of swear words hit my ears as they do. Admittedly, not the most pleasant landing…I'm gonna have a lot of bruises in the morning, I know that now.

"We sure know how to make an entrance," I shout down to Shepard, as I unsteadily clamber down from the side of the Mako. The Commander turns to look at me, slight gash on her face…but she's smiling as she turns.

"That we do," Shepard chuckles. "We're all in one piece?" I take a glance around…yep, all the crew's here. Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Kaidan, Shepard and myself. "Good," the Commander nods. "Time to take care of business."

Hell to the yeah.

**A/N: Well, that seems like a good place to leave it! Our intrepid heroes finally make it onto the Citadel…which means next up, the battle of the Citadel in all its glory! Or most of it, since I'll skip out some of the more boring fights, but you know. There will still be plentiful fighting and violence.**

**Well, a Prothean long-term plan. Intriguing. But, much like a double rainbow all the way across the sky, WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Wait for quite a while. It ain't called long term for nothing.**

**Also, next chapter will probably be time to face Saren as well. (Breathes deeply). I plan on it, anyway, even if takes more words than usual per chapter. So, you might have to wait a little while longer than usual…but it's gonna get epic. Most likely three chapters until the end of this part of the saga…but what an ending it shall be. **

**Well, hopefully. I mean, obviously I would say that. I'm the writer. I'm not just gonna say 'lol, the ending's shit'. But seriously, it'll be good.**

**Past 900 reviews! (Throws confetti everywhere). Very awesome. The amount of feedback remains unbelievable, as does the sheer number of you coming here to read. I know I say it a lot, hahaha, but thanks. Really. Thank you personally.**

**Until next chapter…bye!**


	38. Ian vs The Battle of the Citadel

Chapter 38

Masashi Hamauzu: Blaze Edge

**A/N: It's a damn epic tune. You should listen to it.**

**Time for the Battle of the Citadel!**

"Did you _really _have to barrel roll us through there?" Garrus asks, groaning slightly as we dispatch the two husks that were standing by Avina, and break out into a jog towards the elevator to our left. "Could that landing not have been a little more…gentle?"

"It was that or miss it altogether," Shepard shrugs. "Which would you have preferred, Garrus? Slight crash onto the Citadel, or being stuck on Ilos with five geth Colossi bearing down on us?"

Garrus frowns. "That…makes sense. Stop being right. It's annoying."

"Someone's gotta be," Shepard laughs, though it's a little tense as we get into the elevator…then flinch slightly as an explosion goes off nearby. It's pretty haunting, actually, seeing all the geth ships in the sky, gunfire all over, the Council fleet engaging in battle…god, I'd hate to be in the ships there. Hell, Joker ought to be up there by now. The thieving bastard.

"Maybe they'll be able to stop Sovereign before he can get into the Citadel," Liara says hopefully, as we stare out the transparent glass as we ascend in the elevator. We're getting quite a good view of the battle, but I imagine that won't last too long. Saren's probably at the Citadel control unit already, which means those arms aren't gonna stay open for long…

Tali shakes her head next to me. "I doubt it. These things dominated the Protheans, and Vigil sounded confident it would be able to access the Citadel."

"Speak of the devil!" I exclaim, pointing up into the sky…where the Reaper itself is rapidly getting closer and closer, as the arms of the Citadel begin to close. Bugger. Looks like it's down to us, though it's not like I was expecting anything otherwise. "You think that cruiser will stop-" The cruiser we're all looking at, staying steadfast in Sovereign's way and firing missile after missile at it, is simply rammed by the Reaper and explodes, breaking into a hundred pieces. "Nope. No, it didn't."

"Shit, it's in," Shepard mutters. "We've got to get to Saren before it can open the relay. If this damn thing hurries up!" She slams a fist into the control panel…and it comes to a juddering hult.

"Good work, Shepard," Wrex grunts from the back of the lift.

The Commander gives him a little glare. "Saren must have locked the elevator. Everyone, suit up. We're going outside." There's a grumble from the rest of the squad, as they get ready to put their helmets on…I, on the other hand, just press the button on my suit and it slides up and over my face, as usual. HUD's all good. Good thing no-one can see my expression, because I'm probably looking far too pleased. As I imagine Tali is as well, since we avoided the hassle. It's the little things in life.

"How long until you think Sovereign gains control?" Kaidan asks, once everyone's finally got their helmet on and Shepard readies her pistol at the glass. Citadel's arms are fully closed now…so while the fleet fight outside, it's just us, Saren, Sovereign and a metric ton of geth now. Whoop de fucking do.

"No idea," Shepard replies calmly. "And I'd rather not find out how long it takes, as well. We do this as quickly as possible. Everyone ready?" There's a chorus of 'yes, Shepard' and suchlike around the elevator, giving Shepard her cue to blast the glass. It's surprisingly quiet…as the glass shards just hang in front of us, slowly gliding away into the distance. Zero G. This ought to be good…I just need to remember to keep the athletics to a minimum. Jumping is a _very _bad idea.

Shepard's first out, lightly stepping over the edge, tilting ninety degrees…then stabilising as the boots lock down onto the surface. God, that looks so damn weird. Kaidan follows behind, then Wrex…and then the horrible realisation it's my turn. And Garrus, Tali and Liara are all giving me a somewhat impatient vibe as a whole. Here we go!

I pop my leg out, bouncing slightly like Shepard and the rest, then tilting my body so my feet are pointing at the ground and straightening out. God, this feels so fucking strange! Never again! Never again! Thankfully, the gravity controls on the boots kick in, and I'm dragged down to Earth again. The movie and games industry are totally irresponsible for making Zero G look like fun. Actually, those bits of Dead Space sucked…never mind.

The remaining crew members follow us out, and in the distance Sovereign stays attached to what presumably it the Citadel's control pole, or something. Red sparks and lines of electricity dancing around the Reaper, the Citadel tinged and oddly orange colour already thanks to the closed arms and lights spread out in front of us…well, technically beneath us. Ugh, don't think that!

"We waiting for something?" Shepard asks, voice distorted slightly beneath her breather helmet. "Come on! And try not to drift off!"

"That's really reassuring, ma'am," I mutter, taking a few careful steps forward…though it is just like normal walking. Provided I don't jump out of the boot's gravity range, I'll be fine. I break into a run after Shepard, aware of the fact I'm technically running down a wall. That's actually kinda cool.

Prince of Persia eat your heart out.

The path along the wall takes us down a dip, into this weirdly lit impromptu corridor, with an elevator shaft lining the side of it. None of us are talking…but it's quite comforting to see that, even after a Mass Relay jump and huge crash, Wrex has still managed to hang onto the rocket launcher. Bet that'll be handy…

Suddenly, a huge crash brings my attention rudely back to the battlefield, as an elevator slide next to our position and glass explodes outwards…thanks to assault rifle fire from the geth inside. You cheeky bastards! They're temporarily shrouded in glass as they appear, along with about six other behind them, casting odd reflections of light all over the battlefield. Kinda pretty.

A shot to the shoulder brings me firmly out of environment appreciation, though, the impact spinning me round slightly thanks to the zero g. Bugger! I duck for cover, blasting back with both pistols. I get three shots in on the geth who shot me, the other four or so shattering the various bits of glass now floating around the place. Screw pretty, they're really fucking annoying!

Shields are still at over 80%, though, despite the rough impact, so I quickly pop out of cover and blast the offending geth with an Overload, making it crumple to the ground, sparks flying everywhere.

Everyone seems to be taking their normal roles…Shepard and Liara causing biotic havoc, the former grabbing one geth, putting it back in the shaft then shooting it down at enormous speed, and it goes past next to me like a blur. Yep. It ain't getting back up here any time soon. It's odd, seeing the whole team working together like this…we all have a kind of synergy, bizarre considering this is the first time we've all been on the same mission. Can't complain, though.

Wrex is making a move up top…but he's not that far ahead of me in the kill competition, is he? Quickly holstering the pistols, I grab the sniper rifle off my back and aim at the krogan's target. Man, he's gonna hate me for this…

Wrex gets the first shot in, but it's a shotgun blast that only clips the geth, even if it's still enough to take its shields down. Thanks, buddy! My shot takes it in the chest, knocking the geth off its feet and sending it floating off into the distance.

Wrex turns around, locks eyes with me, gives me a glare, and points the rocket launcher in a rather threatening manner.

Maybe I'm not gonna make a habit of stealing his kills.

##############

I narrowly resist the urge to leap into a dive roll as I move to cover, instead simply sliding across and into the giant structure, one of the many that line the Citadel's walls, as we finally enter the area where the Citadel's Defence Turrets are at. Just as a geth dropship appears. I remember this…

Ten, maybe twenty minutes of fierce fighting so far to get to this point, geth corpses floating all through the air on account of Shepard and Liara's biotics lifts and pushes, coupled with the bodies of geth and krogan slain in more conventional ways. The slight shoulder wound I already had is now significantly worse, on account of a round actually going straight through the thing…but the medi-gel's holding it together. And I can still shoot.

The HUD tells me everyone's vitals are fine…well, apart from raised heartbeat and blood pressure, but that shouldn't exactly come as a huge surprise. This was a hell of a lot easier just holding a controller…

"We're not getting past that gunship!" Shepard yells. "We need those turrets online, now!"

"I can't access them remotely!" Tali shouts back. "We'd need to get to the actual controls to activate them!"

Shepard curses under her breath. "No way we can send everyone out…it's too open, we'll be slaughtered. One person, lay down some covering fire. Ian, you're probably the quickest on the squad?"

Wait, what? Me? "I've done some sprinting in my time, but…"

"Shaw!" Shepard says firmly. "This is not the time to be pedantic! We need you to get out there and activate the turrets, we'll cover you!"

"Is that it? I get volunteered for the suicide mission because I can run the quickest?" I protest, but I can see Shepard's eyes looking at me behind her visor. They say everything I need to know. "You owe me a drink after this!"

"We're going to need more than one of them, I'm guessing!" Shepard replies. "Go!" Err…bloody hell, not really much planning I can do here. Just run and pray. But if I'm going on some incredibly dangerous mission by myself, only one thing for it.

"LEEEEEEERROOOOY!" I yell, leaping out from cover and bolting towards the first turret. For a few moments, there's nothing on me, no gunfire…maybe the geth can't calculate someone being this stupid, or can't handle my fearsome battlecry.

Then, without warning, one bullet passes in front of me. And after that, about twenty. SHIT! My instinct is to jump to try and avoid them, but I just keep on running, doing my best to ignore the slight impact of the rounds as I come to a halt at the first turret, which also gives me cover from the geth. Alright, activate that…immediately, it starts firing rockets at the geth dropship…but they don't seem to be doing much.

Break for number two, then. Wait for the shields to recharge…and go! This time, no respite, as the shots come straight away. Fifty metres approximately, but the geth have obviously worked out what I'm trying to do, and are attempting to ensure I fail. And, unlike what action movies would have you believe, they aren't missing horribly just because I'm sprinting. Shields down to 10%, with as many metres to go…a round suddenly chips off my visor, and the shield display flashes red. 0%. FUCK! I put on one last burst of speed, sliding next to the terminal…just as a bullet tears through my left bicep.

The whole limb spasms with pain as I grind to a halt next to the terminal, temporarily safe but arm feeling like it's on fire. Motherfucker, that hurt! Godfuckingdammit! The medi-gel starts smoothing onto the wound, patching over the skin and acting as a pain-killer, but it still throbs slowly as I move to activate the turret.

Which is locked, and needs hacking.

I hate my job.

"I got shot, Shepard," I hiss into the radio, setting off a hack module, since thankfully it's a rather basic security system. "Which now means you owe me two drinks."

"_It goes up every time you get shot?"_

"Think of it as injury insurance," I mutter back, as the shields finally recharge…and my hack breaks through at the same time, doubling the fire on the dropship. "Do I really need to get the last one?"

"Sovereign and Saren aren't waiting," she says firmly. "Go!" Thank you, Shepard, for being so bloody understanding…ignoring the arm pain, I break out for one last time, but fortunately this one is only thirty metres away. I burst into a sprint, ignoring the bullets, closing in on the target…

And then suddenly I'm falling, lurching forwards as one foot managed to get in the way of the other! Damn it! Shit, I'm not falling towards the ground, I'm falling towards the turret! And not on ground level! I'm ascending at a horribly quick rate, but I just manage to grab onto the edge of the turret as I'm about to fly past.

I breathe a sigh of relief…which quickly turns into a yell of distress when I notice the geth looking up at me, and aiming assault rifles. Fuck my life! "Shepard!" I yell, ideas out of the window. "I'm stuck! Help!"

"Hold on, I've got an idea," Shepard replies coolly, and I see her flare up blue, grabbing a geth. What is this shit? "I'm going to bring him up to your feet. Use it as a springboard, and jump down to the terminal!"

"What?" I shout back. "That's bat-shit insane!"

"Or, you can just float there and get shot by geth," Shepard grunts, as the biotically pinned geth floats towards me. "Your call!" My kinetic barriers are failing rapidly…like I said, zero g? Never again. NEVER.

Shepard finally manages to line the geth up with my feet, and I press back against it, angling at the floor…here we go! I spring off, way too fast, and go crashing into the ground, clumsily flipping over. For a second, I'm not sure which way is up…then the gravity boots finally kick in, and I'm left standing next to the final turret.

Right, that's scarred me for life.

I'm just about to activate the third and final turret…when the geth dropship suddenly explodes, the force of which knocks the rest of the geth troops up into space. No. That did not just happen. So I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

"Oh," Shepard says quietly. "Maybe you didn't need to get one after all."

"Well observed," I say back sardonically, shaking slightly from stress after all that. "I almost thought I was going to die there, twice. I've been shot in the bicep, had a hard impact with the floor, and generally freaked the fuck out."

"And you did it admirably," Garrus chuckles, as he and the rest of the team advance towards my position. "Though, I think it was kind of self-inflicted. You did jump at the last turret, after all."

"I tripped!" I protest. No-one seems convinced. "You know what, forget it. Let's go and get Saren," I say, feeling proper riled. "I can go and get counselling straight afterwards."

Shepard nods firmly. "He's right. Well, about Saren, anyway. We don't have much time, let's move!"

"Man up, Ian," Wrex grunts, as we start another unsteady run towards where we can see Sovereign, suspended high above us.

"Wrex," I say calmly, "how would _you _like it if I knocked you into space?"

The krogan calmly hefts his rocket launcher.

"I hate how you have that thing."

############

Wrex hefts the rocket launcher at the final Geth Heavy Turret on our route, pulling the trigger as we all watch the rocket sail through the air…and impact the turret with a huge explosion. That's it. As far as I'm aware, the penultimate enemy down…now it's just Saren. Wrex looks somewhat despondent as he looks at the rocket launcher.

"I love how you have that thing," I say, as we break into a sprint towards what I know is the Citadel Tower. The door into the top floor. Into the final confrontation.

"You've changed your tune. But it's empty," he frowns. "I thought it didn't have ammunition, like our weapons."

"How would that work?" I ask. "I mean, it's rockets. They're a physical entity."

"I don't know," he shrugs, chucking it out into space. "Guess I'll have to use the shotgun again. It just seems so…boring. I was hoping to have it against Saren."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "What happened to drawing it out?"

"Oh yeah," Wrex grins, the memory coming back to him. "I forgot. Thanks for the reminder."

"No problem, mate." Shepard suddenly shouts something, and we all move towards her…and the door she's standing on. Guess this is the way in. And the way out of zero gravity, thank Christ for that! That's shit was horrible! Liara presses the door panel, and Shepard gracefully steps inside…and back to the normal orientation of the world. I'm far, far too eager to follow, quickly stepping inside, followed by the rest of the crew…and the door shuts behind us.

I was half expecting to hear a voice say 'exiting zero gravity'. Though it would have been incredibly weird if that _had _happened.

But fuck me, the Council chambers are a mess. The trees lining the sides of the room are all in flames, red embers floating around the place and casting an odd tinge upon the grand chamber, already darkened by the closure of the Citadel's arms, red tinge set firmly by Sovereign and the flickers of electricity around him.

And in the middle of it all, Saren. Far, far in the distance, at the end of the chamber, maybe two hundred metres away…but unmistakably him.

Time to end this.

"SAREN!" Shepard yells, breaking into a full on sprint at him. Crap, not _more _sprinting…I'm still recovering from my previous efforts, but I set off after her, thankful that Laet's armour is slightly lighter than the standard issue stuff Kaidan's wearing.

There's four or five geth as we approach, but there's no way they're stopping up now. No way in hell. I reach for the sniper rifle, still running, quickly bringing up the scope in the vague direction of one of the geth and pulling the trigger. Miracle shot! It goes down, one bullet straight to the head. God, I'm a flukey bastard sometimes…

One lunges out in front of Shepard, but she simply puts out one hand, fires up the biotics and throws it out to the side, the geth following her body movements to a T and flying into a flaming tree…where it too proceeds to burst into flames. Awesome.

Tali dispatches one with an omni-tool, while Liara lifts one for Wrex and Garrus to shoot down by conventional means. Frankly, that resistance was pathetic. Good effort, Saren, but nowhere near good enough.

Though I probably won't be saying that when he transforms once we shoot him…or he kills himself. God, that fight doesn't really bear thinking about.

"SAREN!" Shepard yells again, as we finally get up to the area where the Council have stood all this time, and the turian whirls around…then jumps off the edge of the platform. Huh? I was expecting some shooting, or something…I exchange a quick look with Wrex, who just shrugs. I don't like this…

Then, Saren suddenly rises up above our heads, on his fucking hoverboard, clutching something in his hand. A shape I know far too well.

"GRENADE!" Tali yells, as we all dive to separate sides as the turian hurls it at us. The blast knocks me in mid-air slightly, and I feel the air knocked out of my lungs as I hit the ground…but thankfully, no lasting damage. Only problem is, now if we try to engage him, he's got us bottlenecked down here. Bugger. All that can happen now, is Shepard works her magic. I hope.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard," he grins. Yep, he's still mental. And he's still gonna pay.

"Sorry it took so long!" Shepard yells back sarcastically. "We were busy wiping out a few hundred of your followers on the way here!"

Saren chuckles mockingly, but I don't know why…hell, that was genuinely funny. Well played, Shepard. "You've lost," Saren mutters. "You know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control of all the Citadel's systems. The Relay will open, the Reapers will return." Through some stroke of luck, Tali, Garrus and I have ended up on the right hand side of cover, while the rest of the squad are on the left…so as Shepard shoots back her reply, Tali nudges me lightly on the shoulder. "Should we do something?" she asks. "Shoot him? Help Shepard talk to him?"

"Nope," I reply, shaking my head. "This is her time, her role here. With luck, she'll get him to shoot himself. We don't need any more risk as it is." Tali nods in agreement, then settles back into cover. Gotta get ready for the fight…going into it with a torn bicep and injured shoulder isn't ideal, but I gotta make the best of it. And there's seven of us. We'll be fine. Just got to make sure we stop Sovereign in time…and see whether Shepard chooses to save the Council or not. I really can't call that decision, though.

"Your squad survived our encounter on Virmire," Saren says, as I tune back into the conversation. "Well, most of them. But I've changed since then. I have trained harder, analysed the fight…their weaknesses. And a squad's weakness is your weakness." Whoa, hold up…he didn't mention the implants? Maybe he's saving it…an ace up his sleeve, or something.

"It's not going to help you now!" Shepard yells. "You can't win here, Saren!"

"I will. It is how it must be," Saren hisses. "But I suppose I should thank one of your squad members. The one I talked to on Virmire." Wait, _me? _Okay, what the fuck is going on here? "I couldn't stop thinking about what he said, about Sovereign manipulating me, about indoctrination."

Shepard quickly glances over at me, looking a little surprised, then turns back to Saren. "So what?"

"It helped strengthen my resolve," Saren says. No, that's not right, the doubts were supposed to eat away at him! "Sovereign wished to implant me. I…I resisted." Oh. My. God. Saren doesn't have implants. Because of me.

Shit. That's…that's a big canon change.

"The resistance cost me dearly," Saren continues, voice shaking a little. "Sovereign…Sovereign did not want that resistance. But he knows I am still useful to him, that I am on his side, so he did not break me. This is what I want. Implants or not, my goal is still the same. The Reapers must come through the relay!" Well, provided he still shoots himself, all this does is save us a boss fight. So, actually, it's not that bad… "The Reapers need organics! Join us, and they will find a place for you, too."

"He's still controlling you through your mind!" Shepard shouts back. "Godammit Saren, don't you see that? Sovereign hasn't won yet! I can stop it from taking control of the station! Whatever part of your mind is still left, whatever part of your free will remains, hear this! Step aside and the invasion will never happen!"

Saren throws his arms up in the air in anger. "We can't stop it! Not forever. You saw the visions. You saw what happened to the Protheans. The Reapers are too powerful." I'm still struggling with the fact he's not implanted…I knew he looked different somehow when I saw him. I.e. he didn't look like a robot.

"The Protheans have a plan to stop them!" Shepard shouts. "Some part of you knows this is wrong! You can fight!"

"Maybe…maybe you're right," Saren suddenly says, staring at his hands. "Maybe there is still some…agggh!" The turian yells in pain, clutching at his head. "No! This is not how it ends! Get out of my head!" Is he…talking to Sovereign? No, no, this is going horribly wrong! And suddenly, Saren goes limp, falling from the hoverboard and crashing to the ground, though the glass holds firm as he does.

No…did Sovereign just destroy his mind?

Shepard bolts out from her position in cover, all of us keeping our guns trained on Saren as she kneels down next to him to check for a pulse. He's dead. I mean, he's got to be, right? That's how this has to g- "I've got a pulse!" Shepard shouts. "Everyone, keep your guns on him! If he moves for any kind of weapon, _anything_¸ shoot him dead!"

"Shepard, after everything he's done, you want us to keep him alive?" I ask. I can't let this happen! It would change too much…and he killed Ash!

"I want to see him dead too, Ian, but he's had the closest contact with the Reapers. We think we know of his plan, but do we really know?" Shepard replies. "We need him alive, to find this out. If we can destroy Sovereign, it should get rid of the indoctrination. This is not your call!" I could just shoot Saren, end it…but then that'll probably end in Shepard pulling a gun on me. I could get arrested. Thrown in prison. Maybe even killed. And if Saren does really have useful information, even if it changes canon…I can't just kill him.

I really don't like this. But I don't have a choice.

Shepard approaches the control panel, omni-tool open, and starts frantically pressing buttons. Saren looks out cold, his pistol extremely far away from him…he's fine. The others are watching him, anyway. I lower my helmet, and turn to look at the Commander. "Vigil's data file worked!" she says triumphantly. "I've got control of all systems. I'm going to open the arms, see if the fleet can attack Sovereign…just let me see if I can get a communications channel."

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Garrus suddenly whispers in my ear from behind, making me jump slightly. "What the hell is going on?"

"I know this isn't very reassuring," I say slowly. "But your guess is as good as mine."

Garrus looks utterly horrified.

"…_the Destiny Ascension," _the communications channel finally opens, to the distress call. It runs its course, but I'm too busy looking at the control panel, then back to Saren, to actually care. He's alive. We might even take him in alive. Because of what I said on Virmire.

Saren is alive, because of me. That…is not good. At all. I just catch the end of Joker's transmission, presumably asking about what to do in regards to Sovereign and the Destiny Ascension.

"The Council have done nothing for us," Wrex says firmly. "Let them die! Save the humans while you can!"

"This is a threat to all the organic species in the galaxy," Liara protests. "It's bigger than humanity. The Council must be saved."

Shepard stares down at the floor with a look of concern all over his face, Saren's still lying unconscious next to me, and the biggest battle the Citadel has ever seen is waging over my head.

I'M FREAKING OUT SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!

"_What's the order, Commander?" _Joker asks. _"Come in now to save the Ascension, or hold back?"_

Shepard is still staring at the floor…then suddenly her head snaps back up. "Save the Ascension," she says firmly. "Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Council, no matter what the cost!" Personally, I'm behind that decision…it'll be useful come ME2, since they'll give her Spectre status, and most likely the Council could be our allies in the events after that.

Right now, I thought I'd be cracking open the champagne. But looking up into the sky, watching as the Normandy and the Alliance save the Destiny Ascension, along with the rest of the squad, I'm just left with worry. About Saren.

But maybe this is what I was supposed to do. Keep him alive, so we can gain information off him? Risky, but what he knows might be able to stop the Reaper plans once and for all…though revenge for Ash is still playing on my mind. I'm not comfortable with letting him live. But I can't just kill him, not with everything he knows.

Geth ships alongside the Ascension destroyed, the rest of the Alliance fleet swoop in as the Citadel's arms open up, blitz of rockets and various other projectiles assaulting Sovereign. The Reaper is wracked with red lightning against the unstoppable barrage, unable to cope…shooting two ships out of the sky, but to no avail. And then, without warning…it just topples. The lights around it extinguish, it's grip on the Citadel loosens, and the once great Reaper tumbles to the ground, letting out a gigantic, synthetic screech as it falls.

And then I see it. The Normandy, hurtling down towards it at breakneck speed…and explosions that strike through the core of the Reaper, the cries echoing away…and its limbs going limp. And yet, for some reason, the piece of it that is supposed to destroy the Citadel chamber never comes.

Sovereign is dead. The Citadel is safe. For now, at least…it's over. But at what cost? And I'm not just talking about lives. Saren still lives, and we're going to take him in. God…now what happens?

I glance over to Kaidan and Wrex, who both give me a relieved grin, and I can't help giving them one back. We did just save the galaxy, to be fair. Whatever problems Saren brings up…I can deal with them. The more I think about it, the more I realise, he could actually be quite useful. But this…this is a huge change in canon.

I seriously bloody hope it's not the first of many. I need to think it through...the sudden realisation the threat is over suddenly makes me realise how exhausted I am…and the various aches and pains all over my body. God, I got shot, didn't I? Twice. Now the adrenaline's worn off, I am really not feeling tip-top.

"So," Shepard finally says. "What do we do with him?" I glance down at Saren, about to compose some reply about 'bringing him to justice'…then I see where the turian's talon is at.

It's slid down to his belt.

It's on a stun grenade.

And he's got his eyes clenched tightly shut.

Oh, FUCK.

"GRE-" I start to shout, trying to close my eyes, but the grenade detonates as I talk, blitzing my senses with noise and light. It's absolutely blinding, high pitched whine screaming through my ears as I fall back to the ground, faintly aware of seeing the rest of the squad do the same next to me…and Saren rising to his feet, huge burn up his left hand side where the grenade detonated. But he's up and walking. No…I try to reach for my pistol, but it sends a huge judder of pain up my body, and I all I want to do is curl up into a ball, make the pain in my ears and retinas go away…

He's escaping, and I can't stop him! This can't be how it ends, not after everything…I roll over, trying to get a look at him, where he runs to…and I see the Spectre faintly beneath the whiteness in my eyes. And he mouths something. It looks like…

'_I'm sorry.'_

With that, the turian breaks into a limping run down the Council chambers. I make one last desperate reach for a gun, a weapon, something to stop him…but the pain it causes is too much for my already weakened body.

The whiteness in my eyes starts to die out, replaced by black spots, and the ringing in my ears is dampened as, once again, I slip into unconsciousness.

**A/N: Bet y'all didn't see **_**that **_**shit coming.**

**The mission may be over…but Saren lives. And although this might not really change much now, since he's out of the picture as he was at the end of ME1, this time he's not permanently gone. This isn't the last of Mr. Arterius. Trust me.**

**Two chapters left now, two epilogue chapters. One, dealing with the direct aftermath and other things…then the final one at the memorial ceremony to mark the battle, where a conversation that Ian desperately needs to have will be going down.**

**So, MtM2 could be over by the end of the week. (gasps). Crazy times.**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc, and see you next chapter! **


	39. Ian vs The Aftermath

Chapter 39

One Night Only: Nothing Left

"So," Garrus says quietly, leaning against the wall of my room as Tali and I both sit on the edge of the bed. "What now? What is this going to mean for us?"

I groan slightly, looking down at the floor and thinking back to the aftermath of the Saren's escape. I came around to a light being shined in my eyes, though this time not from a stun grenade. Instead, it was medical team, a mixture of C-Sec and Alliance who got informed we were here, presumably by Joker. My ears were still ringing from the stun grenade, and my eyes still hurt to look around…but the first thing I did was ask about Saren, if anyone had seen him escape, if he'd been stopped.

The looks on their faces said it all. No sign of him. Security footage, or otherwise, since it had almost been entirely disabled by the geth. As we all gradually regained our senses, and the few of us who hadn't been lucky enough to slip into unconsciousness (Garrus, Wrex and Kaidan) stopped rolling around in pain, Anderson finally turned up to inform us all of the full situation.

Saren had escaped. Anderson made that one extremely clear, straight off the bat, when Shepard told him about the turian and his stun grenade. By the time the medical team had arrived, Anderson admitted, he'd probably managed to get a ship and escape far, far away. In the battle raging above, what was one small ship trying to get away?

I told them about what Saren mouthed to me just before he ran, and Shepard told the Captain that he'd actually tried to fight the indoctrination in the end…and that he could have easily just killed us all while we were stunned. He had always seemed repentant at the end of Mass Effect, if you talked him into suicide…but since he doesn't have the implants, I came to the conclusion this might be him trying to repentant. Just running, unable to accept imprisonment and the inevitable death sentence he'd be receiving…but unable to kill us either. Becoming a fugitive.

In the end, Anderson concluded, it didn't matter. If Saren chose to lay low in the Terminus Systems, as he most likely has, there's no way the Council are going to find him, not out there. One turian out in the vast expanse of the galaxy…there's just too many places for him to hide. Not a chance of finding him. I wouldn't even know where to start looking, with all my knowledge.

Supposed knowledge, anyway. First the Prothean long-term plan…and now this. Anderson eventually led Shepard away for a debriefing with the saved Council, for them to deliver her a load of empty promises, and we were discharged by the medical team and sent back to the Normandy.

They bandaged up my bicep and shoulder wound, and gave me a few stims to dull the pain…but once we got back on board, the first thing I wanted to do was just go to sleep and not wake again for at least two days. But I knew Garrus and Tali would want to talk, proven quickly right when the two of them burst into my room while I tried to clean myself up a little bit. And here we are now. Trying to cope.

"I honestly wish I knew," I finally reply, looking back up at Garrus. "I mean, I wouldn't think one of the main antagonists escaping is a good thing…but thinking about it, it might not change that much. At least, not immediately."

"Not change that much?" Tali asks incredulously. "He was the main villain! How can this not change much?" She makes a valid point…and I've got to admit, I'm freaking out about this myself quite a bit. What if he comes back with another geth army, comes up with some new diabolical scheme to wreak havoc…

But the rational part of my brain is calmly telling me I've got no reason to think that. If Saren had wanted revenge, he could have killed us while we were stunned, maybe even taken back control of the Citadel and tried to open the relay. But he ran. Like someone consumed with guilt, he ran. With the indoctrination out of his mind, what reason would he have to seek revenge against anyone except the Reapers, since they were the ones who twisted him?

"Because this leaves Saren out of the picture, just as he was at the end of Mass Effect," I explain, trying to keep cool and collected despite the doubts in my mind about what I'm saying. "He knows he's a vigilante, that what he did is wrong. Unforgivable. The bastard should have just turned himself in, but he's running, guilty. He's going to lie low, and Saren's not stupid-"

"He sided with the Reapers," Garrus says bluntly. "He's stupid."

"His loyalties were firmly in the wrong place, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. The man was a Spectre, for God's sake," I say firmly. "Saren's not going to show his face in Council space. Ever. Hell, I doubt he'll even want to surface in the Terminus Systems. No doubt he's got somewhere to hide, but no reason to come out. Maybe he'll kill himself from the guilt anyway, maybe just keep hidden. But he can't interfere. He's got no reason to."

Garrus shakes his head. "That's not good enough. He already raised a geth army and destroyed the galaxy, and you're talking like he's not a threat? We can't just let him keep living!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" I snap. "You think I'm happy about this? I'd much, much rather see him dead in the Council Chambers, but guess what? Life's a bitch! So we have to adapt to this now. We don't know where to start looking for him, no leads to go on…and one well trained Spectre like him knows how to make themselves invisible." I suddenly realise how heavily I'm breathing…and how loud I said that. God, Ian, calm…I can see where Garrus is coming from, this is all just a little intense.

Tali gently places a hand on my shoulder, which helps calm my nerves immensely. "He has a point, Garrus. We can't just hunt Saren down. Though…it does still worry me," she admits. "We can't be sure he's not a threat, can we?"

"No," I reply, shaking my head. "No, we can't. I'm just basing this off what I know about him, the fact that he didn't kill us when he had the chance, and how he ran and escaped. This makes the most sense. I can't promise it's going to happen…but we can sure as hell hope." I chuckle, a little humourlessly. This is definitely not how I imagined the whole thing ending… "If Saren wants to disappear, that's fine by me. And if he does show his face, I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who'd like to blow it straight off. So it's fine by me. It's out of our hands." I stop, then smile apologetically at the turian. "And sorry for snapping at you, Garrus."

"Don't worry about it," he smiles back. "Tensions are running pretty high." Bloody hell, that's an understatement…though it's reassuring to think the Saren thing might not turn out too bad. Well, for now, anyway. I'm getting a horrible feeling it's going to end up biting me in the ass at some point, though, whether I like it or not…especially since it was me talking to him on Virmire that caused it. Bloody hell, Shiara's going to have a field day with this once she realises Saren never died…which, knowing her, shouldn't take too long. It's been four or so hours since it happened, so I'm expecting an omni-tool message any time now.

"Even with Saren out of the way for now," Garrus says, knocking me off my train of thought, "I've still got something bothering me. That Prothean VI mentioned something about a long-term plan, right?"

Oh God, that… "Vigil did mention something about it," Tali says. Well, at least she's got the decency to mention his name. "And you said it wasn't in the games."

"It's not," I frown. "And I'm not really sure what that means. It crossed my mind it might be referring to me-"

"How could that work, though?" Garrus asks. "You're twenty, and the Protheans must have made that plan about fifty thousand years ago. And besides, you're not even from this universe!"

"That crossed my mind as well," I admit. "But Shiara did mention that I have some larger purpose here, to help stop the Reapers…which is what the Prothean's long-term plan is for. I've got no idea how that would work, though, and I doubt asking Shiara would help."

"Is she going to get in contact with you?" Tali asks quietly. "You said she'd do something if she found out you'd changed anything."

Stop reminding me…man, it's not going to be a good reunion between us. I'm sure she'll be mad at me, but frankly, I've got a few things to say to her as well. "Like I said, she'll find me," I mutter. "But I can worry about that when it comes up. Right now, we need to think ahead to the near future. Now that Sovereign's been dealt with…we've still got months until Shepard, erm…" It's really uncomfortable talking about it, especially in front of Garrus, as I see his mandibles drooping slightly at the reminder of Shepard's fate. "We need to sort out what we're all doing."

"I wasn't expecting my Pilgrimage to finish this quickly," Tali admits. "I can make it last until it happens, and we have to split ways. If there's only a few months until we have to split for two years…I want to spend them with you." Aw, it's so corny…but that's really not a bad thing.

"I'm thinking the same thing as Tali," Garrus nods. "Well, replacing you with Shepard, of course." We all share a little laugh at that. "We've got no obligation to do anything until she…leaves for a bit. After that? I think back to C-Sec. Shepard and I talked about it, like I already told you," he says, nodding to me. "Unless I'm not supposed to do that, in plot…"

"You are," I say quickly. "I can't tell you what you're supposed to do, either of you, because you might change your minds…but just let nature run its course. It'll all fall into place. Sorry I can't be any more specific."

Tali shakes her head. "We understand. If that's everything, though…I'm exhausted. I need to go and get some rest."

"Makes two of us," Garrus says, yawning a little bit, mandibles stretching out as wide as they can go. "I'll talk to y-"

There's a sudden beep from my wrist, and the omni-tool flares up next to me. I don't even have to look to guess who it's from.

_Ian,_

_We need to talk. I think you know why._

_Meet me where you first arrived here. After the memorial ceremony tomorrow. I'll be waiting._

_Shiara_

Great, that sounds like it's going to be lovely. 'I'll be waiting'. Bloody hell, she sure knows how to write an invite…

"Memorial ceremony?" Tali says, sounding surprised. "Must be for everyone who died in the battle…of course we'll go, but how did she know about that before us?"

"I told you," I shrug. "It seems to be her business to know everything. Go on, get some sleep."

"Are you not…" Tali says, a little nervously, "erm…sticking around here for a bit?" I can see Garrus chuckling away lightly in the corner, so I shoot him a little glare. The turian gets the message, and starts to head for the door.

"There won't be that much time for talking in the morning, since we'll all be off to the memorial service," I point out. "I still want to see the rest of the crew, how everyone's holding up after Saren got away. Then again, they won't know it shouldn't have happened." I grin wryly. Ignorance is bliss… "I'll be an hour or so. You can wait that long, right?"

If I could see Tali's face, I'm guessing she'd probably be pouting. Actually, would Tali pout? Somehow…it just doesn't seem right. "I suppose," she says. "Don't be too long, though."

"Well, I've got a pretty good incentive to get back," I chuckle, heading for the door. "I want to see who Shepard's chosen as the human ambassador, though, once she gets back on board. But I've got some ship justice to dole out first."

###########

"Hello, Joker," I say into his ear, making the pilot leap about a feet into the air and swivel his chair around to look at me. "We have some stuff to talk about, wouldn't you agree?"

"Look, I swear, I didn't know that was your ice-cream," Seth Green…I mean Joker replies, a little nervously. "I just assumed some mysterious benefactor was leaving it for my benefit. I never saw anyone else eat any, after all."

I glare at him. "You thought someone was buying you ice-cream?"

"Buy the cripple some ice-cream, make him happy," Joker shrugs. "I'm a capable pilot, with or without my condition, but the whole disability thing really does pay off sometimes. You can't hit me, because I'll snap like a twig."

"Who said that wasn't what I was after?" Joker's eyes widen slightly. "Tell you what. Leave the ice-cream well alone, and we can just pretend this never happened."

"Your mother never teach you about sharing?"

I can't help grinning a little bit. "Yeah. Doesn't mean I have to exercise it, though. Besides, you didn't ask permission. That's not sharing. That's theft."

"Stop labelling it," he sighs. "This is like our first time talking, and you're already threatening me? Is this normal with you?"

"Depends on the people I'm talking to," I smile. Aw, I can't possibly stay mad at Seth Green. The only reason I'm not punching you is because I like Robot Chicken… "In all seriousness, though, good work in the Battle of the Citadel, taking Sovereign down."

"What can I say?" Joker grins, shrugging. "I'm only the best pilot in the whole of the Alliance. Reapers have got nothing on me."

"I'm sure. The thousands of other ships attacking it had nothing to do with it, of course."

"Nope."

I laugh properly. Even after everything with Saren…his enthusiasm and dry wit is somewhat infectious. "So, you know Saren got away, right…"

"If he's got any sense, the bastard'll keep running and never look back," Joker says bluntly. "Council are going to be hunting him to the edges of Council space."

"I doubt he'll just stick around in their space and wait to be caught, then," I point out. "One man in the Terminus Systems…face it, Joker, he's gone. Though I don't think we'll be getting any more trouble from him. Not for now, anyway."

"He still deserves some kind of justice," Joker mutters. "You think the Council will send us after him?"

I shake my head. "Can't say I do. No way we'll find him anyway, and if people know Saren is still alive…it's gonna start a panic. They're gonna cover this up, send us after the last of the geth. That's my guess, anyway."

"Cover it up?" Joker asks incredulously. "What, are they going to build a corpse out of paper mache or something and pass it off as him?"

"I'm just gonna leave that to the Council," I frown. "Like it or not, it's the right thing to do. Everyone'll be terrified if they know he's still out there, and we've got no way of finding him. They'll just keep a lid on it. But if he rears his ugly head again…"

"We'll be ready," Joker finishes for me. "I'm looking forward to it. Might even see if I could get a punch in on him before we took him back to the Council, or just killed him. Even though it would break my knuckles and most of the hand." He looks thoughtful. "Still, worth it."

"I'll say," I chuckle. "See you around, Joker. And I'm serious about the ice-cream."

"I'll bet you are," Joker mutters. "Later." Well, at least he doesn't seem massively concerned about Saren escaping…and why would he? How's Joker supposed to know it wasn't going to happen?

God, this is making my head hurt.

##########

"Good work out there, kid," Kaidan smile, as I walk up to him. "Not every day you save the galaxy, after all."

"I suppose not," I smile back. I mean, he does have a point. Even with all the stuff with Saren, the Prothean plan, having to meet Shiara again…we did just save all life as we know it. Damn. That's actually a pretty good day's work, come to think of it. "I'm pissed Saren got away, though. After everything's he done, with the geth, to Ash…"

"I don't think any of us are exactly happy about it," Kaidan frowns. "But it's not like we can do anything. Sovereign's destroyed, the geth forces have been all but eradicated, and he's not indoctrinated anymore. He'll hide, I reckon." Well, we all seem to be coming to the same conclusion around here…which is good, since it shows I'm not exactly crazy for thinking it. What a relief.

"So, what now?" Kaidan suddenly asks. "You ever make up your mind about what you're doing, now all this is over? I mean, I can hardly believe I'm saying that, after everything…but it's over. At least, for now."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You do remember there's still a Reaper fleet out there, right?"

"I know, I know…I think I'm allowed to be in a temporarily good mood, though," he grins. "Anyway. Decision?"

"I'm gonna stick around here, for sure," I say. "Tali and Garrus are too, at least until Tali needs to go back to her Pilgrimage. After that, well...I'll probably go back to C-Sec." It's as close to the truth as I can get, since it will happen…but it won't quite be just me getting up and spontaneously leaving. There'll be a much bigger catalyst for that.

"Good to hear it!" Kaidan smiles. "I gotta admit, I'm a little surprised you are. I mean, Garrus, sure…"

"Still geth to kill," I shrug. "You don't mind Garrus being on board, do you? I mean, after the whole deal before Ilos…"

Kaidan shakes his head. "I'm over that now. It just came as a shock, and…I never expected Shepard to be the type that went for a turian, that's all." He chuckles, though there's some humour behind it. "Never realised there was a type that went for turians, mind."

"It's good for them," I smile. "But anyway. Just because I'm sticking on with the Alliance doesn't mean I'm officially joining, you know. I'm not getting a rank. Or wearing those stupid bloody outfits." I point to Kaidan's crew clothes, making him snort with laughter a bit.

"At least I'm not dressing like I'm from a hundred years ago," he teases. Oh, come on, that's harsh! People in the future dress like idiots! Jeans, brown long-sleeved V-neck and thin grey long sleeved t-shirt underneath, both rolled up to the elbows…oh, wow, I'm actually kinda dressing like Nathan Drake today. Not that Kaidan would know.

"Dressing from like a hundred years ago is cool," I insist. "And bloody expensive. How'd you think Shepard's getting along with the Council, anyway? They called her in after we recovered."

Kaidan smirks. "You mean after _I _recovered. You passed out, you lucky bastard. I was rolling around feeling like my eardrums had exploded and a krogan was trying to pull my eyes out from inside my head."

"Good for you," I say sarcastically. "I guess the loss of blood from being shot twice probably did it for me. But still, Shepard and the Council?"

"It has been a while," Kaidan shrugs. "Few hours now, so I reckon she'll be on her way back. As for how it went…well, probably as well as meeting between Shepard and the Council normally do. She's probably shot the turian councillor."

"I think there's a time in all our lives where we've wanted to that," I grin. "Several times, actually. Then again, that would kind of defeat the point of saving them."

"I suppose so," Kaidan nods solemnly. "I just hope all the people who got sacrificed to save them aren't just going to be forgotten. Lot of dead heroes now."

"I'm sure there'll be some kind of memorial service, or something," I say reassuringly. "They won't go forgotten. Shepard'll make sure of that." It's kinda harrowing to think, actually…I mean, the sheer scale of the destruction in the sky. I saw cruisers getting shot down, and how many Alliance personnel staff one of them? Hell, I'm not sure I want to know. "Sorry, Kaidan, but I'm absolutely knackered. Want to see how everyone's doing, then just crash out. I'll talk to you tomorrow, when I'm not wrecked, alright?"

The Lieutenant laughs a bit. "Fair enough. Crashing out doesn't sound like such a bad idea from where I'm standing, come to think of it. I'll talk to you later, then."

"In a bit!" I say cheerily, heading for the door to Liara's quarters…which are locked. Damn, she must have gone to sleep already. Oh well. As far as I can tell, Urdnot Wrex never sleeps…so I'll just go and see him instead. Hopefully Shepard'll be back by then.

And so, I head off towards the elevator, trying not to think about the consequences of today as a whole.

##########

Okay, that's not working for me. The elevator seems to be moving even slower than usual, and my mind is inexplicably drawn back to what such a bloody huge change like one of the main villains surviving might mean.

So. I'm almost certain Saren won't be causing us any trouble…well, definitely not straight away, since the guy was essentially just a brainwashed pawn. God, he was in pretty deep, though…I imagine the after-effects aren't going to be great for him. Then again, it's still hard to feel sympathy for the bastard. Indoctrinated or not, gutting Ash like he did…makes me feel kinda sick just to think about it.

But the simple fact things are changing worries the hell out of me. I mean, it's still non-essential stuff…but it's getting closer and closer to something that's gonna turn the world upside down and I really, _really _don't like it. Though, it is making me resolve to think more seriously about the role I can play in this universe now. Change has happened…and what's more, it's been proven change can be sustainable. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, like Shiara implied.

I mean, if it had just been me with my secret, and Saren lived, I'd have been a mess. Freaked out, having to keep everything bottled up…but by telling Tali and Garrus, it's helping me cope. And saving Tali's dad, using my knowledge where I can…it can work.

Yeah. I'm set on it, now. I've tried to stand by and change nothing for a bit, but this? This steps well over that line. I mean, I've still got to be careful…but at least it grants me some flexibility. And I can't ask for more than that.

The elevator _finally _hits the ground floor, and I step out…to see Urdnot Wrex, calmly folding up his weapons and attaching to them to his person, locker open next to him…and completely empty.

"Going somewhere?" I ask, making the krogan whirl around…then smile when he sees it's me.

"Yeah," he replies. "I'm going back to Tuchanka." Wow, this is a little sudden…I wasn't really expecting him to just up and leave. "We stopped Sovereign. My work here is done."

"You weren't going to say goodbye, though?" I frown, folding my arms. "After everything we've been through, you were just gonna go?"

Wrex shakes his head. "I was going to say my goodbyes in the morning, idiot. Anyone with any sense would be sleeping now, and I thought you had some." Actually, that is kind of a good point. I may have over-reacted a little bit there…but I guess it's the sudden realisation that Wrex won't be staying on. I mean, at least with Tali, Garrus and the other, I know there's months before we have to go, but this is unexpected. And I never really imagined the day would come.

"Still thinking about Saren escaping, a bit," I sigh. "You get the feeling we should have killed him when we had the chance?"

"Yeah," Wrex shrugs. "But we didn't. And I see why we didn't. Shepard had a point, since he probably knows more about the Reapers than anyone else in this galaxy. Still, if I see him out on Tuchanka, I won't exactly be inclined to bring him in alive. My idea of ripping his head off and putting it on a stake still stands."

"Lovely," I say, but can't help smiling a bit. "Good to see all this hasn't changed you, then."

"Should it have?" he asks. "I've been doing this longer than you've been alive. A hell of a lot longer. You, though, it's changed you." Eh?

I raise an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"You were nervous when you first came here," Wrex grunts. "The others might not have noticed it, but I did. Big difference between C-Sec and military stuff like what we've done, and you knew it." I think back to then, my constant sense of wonderment about the Normandy, fear of the unknown ahead and proper combat, not what we got up to at C-Sec…he is right. "But you've gotten tougher. Used to battle. Smarter, too. I guess that's why you're still here," he chuckles. "You adapt. You've got a strong will to survive. And you're pretty much fearless, despite how you like to hide it under that whiny exterior of yours sometimes."

"Wrex, I-"

"Shut up and let me finish," he says. Oh. Right you are. "I never thought I'd be saying this, given what you were like first time we met…but I'm proud to have met you. Everyone on this ship. Even the turian," he mutters, though it sounds somewhat bitter. "You ever want to come to Tuchanka, clan Urdnot would welcome you. There. I'm done."

It would feel good to hear that from anyone…but Wrex? It's phenomenal. I try to think of some kind of reply, some kind of thanks, but instead, there's only one thing I really can do to express it.

Bloody hell. He's probably going to hate me for this.

I take two sharp steps forward, quickly grabbing him around the chest and pulling the startled krogan in, then release him after about a second.

The look he's giving me could melt iron.

"Wrex, you are an absolute legend," I say firmly. "I'm talking equal to Chuck Norris, here, and that means a hell of a lot. However proud you are to have known me, trust me, I'm double that to have known you. You…you're fucking awesome, Wrex. And I am seriously gonna miss you."

Yep, still giving me the look. Maybe I was little too honest…then suddenly, Wrex's mouth curls up at the edges, and before I know it, he's laughing, deep voice rumbling around the garage. "You've got a quad on you, you know that?" he finally grunts, once the laughter subsides. "Hugging a krogan. And who's Chuck Norris?"

"Trust me, if you're equal to Chuck Norris, that's a big achievement," I grin. "Well, if by some miracle I'm ever passing by Tuchanka, I'll come and visit."

"Bring the turian if you want," Wrex chuckles. "It'll be like one big family reunion."

I'll bet. "Yeah. You and I could catch up, while the rest of Urdnot try to kill the turian. We'd have a blast."

"That's a good point," Wrex agrees. "Maybe bringing Garrus wouldn't be the best idea. Good talking to you, Ian. And good knowing you."

"Yeah," I smile, taking this as my cue to leave. "Take care, mate. Keep in contact too, yeah? You know my mail address, so…don't be a stranger."

"Alright," he grunts. "Don't go getting all teary-eyed, or whatever the human expression is. I'm not gone yet." I laugh, stepping into the elevator, and pressing the button for the CIC. I wonder if Shepard's back yet…but that conversation made me realise something.

Goddamn, I am really gonna miss Urdnot Wrex.

###########

"Hey, Ian!" Shepard shouts to me, as I get out of the elevator. Hey, that's good timing! I was gonna take one last look for her around the CIC before I went to bed…so nice of her to show up now. "Got some good news for you!"

Really? "I could do with some of that."

"Guess which species just got a Council seat," she grins. Oh, time to feign surprise! I beam widely, though I don't really have to fake it…since this is actually really damn good for humanity. I bet The Illusive Man is jumping up and down in his extraordinarily comfy looking chair right now.

"That's amazing!" I say. "We got a Councillor, or…"

"They let me choose, between Anderson and Udina," Shepard smiles. Ooh, now this one is important, and I'm genuinely curious to find out. I don't think Udina would exactly be the best idea. Douchebag! "Guess who?"

"Well," I say, faking hard thought. "Give that Udina is a twat, and none of us like him, I'd have to guess Captain Anderson."

Shepard laughs, nodding her head. "Right on both counts. About Udina, and about Anderson. Though, it's Councillor Anderson now, not Captain."

"Of course," I nod. "The Council are finally taking us seriously, though. What did they say about the Reapers, and Saren?"

"That part wasn't so good," Shepard frowns. "It can't get out Saren's still alive, even if he's not under Reaper control…and the threat that there's more of them out there, like Sovereign, it would start a galactic wide panic." She sighs. "As far as they're concerned, Saren's gone, and for once I'm inclined to agree with them."

"Not like you to give up so easily," I point out. That might have been a little rude, actually…but Shepard doesn't seem to mind.

"It's not giving up, it's literally not possible," she explains. "If there was any way to track him down, I'd do it in an instant. But there's not. He'll have gone to the Terminus Systems, but they're huge. No, right now, we have to focus on taking out the last bits of geth resistance, then look to dealing with the Reapers." It's harsh, actually, that Shepard's been convinced by the Council that they're going to do something about the Reapers…then again, they had me convinced at the end of my Mass Effect playthrough. I can't say I blame her. And after everything that's happened, I'm not gonna burst her bubble.

So instead, I just nod firmly. "More geth hunting suits me. Garrus, Tali and I will be sticking on for a bit…if it's alright with you, Commander. Tali and I until she needs to return to the Flotilla, anyway."

"Of course," Shepard smiles. "After everything we've done as a squad, I'd be crazy to turn that down. But, Jesus…you look knackered."

"Just Ian will do," I say, unable to resist. It raises a chuckle from Shepard. Success! "And I look like that because I feel it. Right now, I just want to hit the hay."

"Then don't let me stop you," she replies. "But, there's a memorial service tomorrow, they're cleaning up a bit of the Presidium for it…"

"I'll be there, Shepard," I say. Of course I will be…a lot of people sacrificed themselves so we could win. Gotta commemorate them. Everyone who helped in the fight are as much heroes as we were, I guess. "Goodnight, Commander."

"Goodnight, Ian," Shepard says sharply, then turns around to head back up to Joker's chair. I wonder if the woman ever sleeps…too bad for Garrus if she doesn't.

Ooh, low blow. I mean, he's not even here, and I think that's cheap.

I'm feeling in something of a jovial mood, though, walking back towards the elevator down into crew quarters. Even after everything with Saren…we can cope. I know we can. Change comes, and there's nothing I can do. But it's like Wrex said. I adapt. We adapt. And the will to survive, even if the odds seem to be stacked against us, is very strong indeed.

Yeah. I can't worry about it. Always look on the bright side of life, as Eric Idle once sang.

Then I remember…I've still got that meeting with Shiara tomorrow.

Ah, _fuck._

**A/N: First epilogue, DONE! Hopefully that cleared up some of the stuff with what Saren could logically be expected to do…at least for now. Though he's not gone permanently…trust me on that.**

**And some closure with major characters as well, especially Wrex. It's gonna be a real damn shame, not writing him anymore (well, not for a long time anyway) since it's so much fun. I like Grunt, once we get there…but he's no Wrex. Oh well.**

**Next up! The final chapter! Memorial service, a meeting with an unexpected character, and a confrontation between Ian and Shiara that's been brewing for far, far too long now. Look forward to that! **

**And I've been meaning to mention this for a while. If you like SI fics, and any of the following: Star Wars, Halo, Back to the Future…hell, if you like your stories with sanity not included (in a good way), Mass Effect: The Outsider by Sarge1995 is certainly for you. This is not your classic SI. Expect force powers, epic space battles, cracking dialogue and all manner of crossovers and crazy shit. What it is, though, is a bloody amazing fic, and damn well written. So go read it. M'KAY?**

**Have a nice day, and until next time, byebye!**


	40. Ian vs The Epilogue

Chapter 40

Air Traffic: No More Running Away

The Presidium is still in pieces after Sovereign's attack, buildings cleaved in half, rubble around the place, cracked walkways and general reminders of the aftermath all around…but even so, the memorial service is packed. And I mean, absolutely crammed full with people, of every species. Turians, humans, salarians, asari, a few drell, hanar, krogan, elcor…standing shoulder to shoulder, as Admiral Hackett comes to the end of his speech, commemorating everyone who gave their lives in the battle.

Garrus, Kaidan, Liara, Tali and I are sat all along the front row, since all military personnel have been given specific seats so there's an order for the medal presentation…though it isn't particularly surprising given that we're right up front since we've been with Shepard the whole time, the newly hailed Saviour of the Citadel. The first time someone called her that, she just blushed and tried to act all modest…but now it's the words on everyone's lips, I think she's kind of enjoying it.

And it's weird for the rest of us, as well. I mean, it's not like we've got people in the streets just coming up to us to shake our hands…but just about every person I've passed in the Alliance has given me a nod and a smile, the same to the rest of the crew. She might be Saviour of the Citadel, but we sure as hell aren't getting ignored either.

I get a little pang of sadness when I look to the empty seat on my right, though. Wrex left this morning, a few hours before the ceremony, saying he'd never really like all the pomp and ceremony of victory, and that 'if they gave a krogan a medal for saving the Citadel, half the turians in the place might drop dead. Not that I'm complaining, but it might make you look bad.' Despite Shepard pointing out no-one was forcing him to go up and receive some kind of medal, he respectfully declined.

It was a pretty emotional goodbye, actually. I've gotten so used to having him around, the big, grunting voice of blunt truths and occasional sarcasm, and the best fighter I think I'll ever meet. Proven by him winning the kill-competition, beating me by five…if he hadn't picked up that sodding rocket launcher, I'd have won, something I told him myself. 'Keep dreaming,' was the reply I got. So, now I owe him some ryncol…and for some reason I promised I'd a try a bit once I bought it. I think it was kind of heat of the moment, but I seriously hope he doesn't hold me to that. I don't want to turn radioactive.

Rest of the morning passed uneventfully, though. Everyone was in a better mood after getting some rest, and generally in high spirits, since we helped save the Citadel yesterday. Plus Saren hasn't launched some kind of vengeful counter-attack, which is something of a relief. Spent most of the morning with Tali, just hanging around my room, talking about…well, nothing, really. It was unbelievably good, just being able to talk without worries about the mission, anything like that. Guess I didn't realise how much of a pressure it was until it actually got lifted.

After that, we all left for the memorial event…and what an event it's been. Just the sheer amount of people, and species, coming together for this says volumes. It's really touching to see…and I guess it's true what they say about tragedy bringing people together. It's really happened here. It's been going on for about two hours, now, starting off with the reading of names of everyone who we lost in the fighting. I felt a little lurch in my stomach when Ash's name was read out, especially given Saren's escape…but I held it together. Wouldn't exactly look great to have one of Shepard's crew breaking down, especially in front of all the network cameras. Westerlund News turned up…though, thankfully, they haven't sent Al-Jilani. Obviously know we have a history.

After the reading, a series of speeches…first one by the Council, which was surprisingly good. I expected to be pissed off by it, seeing as I don't really like them…but it was pretty humble, praising the Alliance for their actions in saving the Destiny Ascension, and marking the tragic loss of life in protecting the Citadel and the galaxy. Anderson did his part admirably, and even the turian councillor was remarkably sombre in it, which was nice to see, after the amount of shit Velarn's been giving us for two months now.

But they had absolutely nothing on Hackett. That man…knows how to do a speech. It's got to be a combination of him having a voice that can only be described as epic, a speech making ability that can only be described as epic…and you can tell every word he says has his unshakable conviction behind it. The first part of the speech was all about what we've lost…but the second half was the real inspirational bit.

Hackett started talking about the Alliance's role, but then he moved onto all the other fleets that had taken part. The turian military, the salarians…and the contribution of everyone on the Citadel for banding together to help the military against Saren. Now, though, he's finally coming to the end of it.

"Seeing all of you out here today," he says, not having to raise his voice for emphasis, knowing that we're all hanging onto his words already. "It gives me hope to see it. To know that despite all the difference between species in this galaxy, all our squabbles in the past, we _can _come together at a time like this, to remember those who gave their lives for us, and to celebrate our victory. And I mean, our victory. All of us!"

He gazes around the crowd, seemingly trying to make eye contact, before returning to the speech. "_We_ pushed back the geth, Saren, his ship, through the efforts of those on the frontline of battle, through to those who were in the Citadel at the time. Because we stood strong! And we show those who think they can invade, destroy, take whatever they want, that this galaxy will not stand for it!" There's a build-up of applause, someone I can't see starting it off…but within seconds, everyone is clapping, cheering, as I rise to my feet along with the thousands of others and Hackett brings his speech to a close. "Divided we fall, but united we stand! And today, the Citadel and all the species of the galaxy stand tall!"

There's a roar of approval from the crowd, as Hackett simply nods his head in acknowledgment, and heads off the podium to take his place near the Council. I can't help grinning wide as he does, looking over at Garrus and the rest of the squad, who all have the same expression on their faces as I do. Bloody inspirational. That's all I can say. Hackett remains one of the most unsung heroes of all time, in my opinion.

As the applause gradually dies out after a minute or so, and we all take our seats, I run through my memory for how much of this is left. We've got a presentation of a medal to every member of military personnel in the battle…with Commander Shepard doing the presentation. It's going to take a while…but everyone who's coming up for one deserves it, and in a more selfish way, it gives me more time until I have to face Shiara. I'm not looking forward to it. But right now, I just need to enjoy the ceremony for what it is. A victory celebration.

Shepard takes the stage, and next to her I can see a relay line of people who are presumably Council workers…getting ready to hand along the long pile of medals waiting at the end of the line. Bloody hell, that is seriously damn impressive, how they managed to make all of them for now. Then again, after all this, the Council will have pulled out all the stops. And the bill for them is gonna look like nothing next to the repair costs…

I can see Garrus looking a little tense as she takes the stage, presumably a little worried about how she's going to handle the speech, bless him. Shepard already embarrassed him a little this morning, first by planting a little kiss on his cheek when she saw him in the galley this morning (though frankly, I'm glad they're being overt about it,) then saying she'd 'try to save something' for Garrus when I pointed out her arms would be hurting by the time she was done. I swear she just does it for shits and giggles now…but it is really funny.

"Well," Shepard says into the microphone, drawing my attention back to the podium and hushing everyone else, "I'm...not quite sure how I'm supposed to follow _that._" There's a rumble of laughter around the place, as the Commander smiles coolly around the place. Good that she's showing the human side to her…

"I'd like to start by marking the heroic sacrifice of everyone we lost in the battle. They gave the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us could live, and for that, we honour the heroes and heroines of the Battle of the Citadel, and the cruisers Cairo, Cape Town, Emden, Jakarta, Madrid, Seoul, Shenyang and Warsaw, along with their two thousand four hundred crew, for their role in saving the Destiny Ascension, let their names never be forgotten." There's solemn nods from around the Presidium, murmurs of agreement from some. "But there must also be recognition for the soldiers, pilots, military personnel that fought in the battle and are still with us now, and so it gives me great pleasure to be the one to present the Council Legion of Merit to all of those people."

She lifts up one of said medals…and from my position, I can see it looks exactly like the one from the Achievement picture on completing Virmire. Never though I'd see one in reality, yet here we are. "First, the crew of the SSV Normandy," Shepard announces. "For being with me from the start of the fight against Saren and the geth, fighting where all hope seemed to have been lost, and for being the best crew a Commander could ask for." Aww, that's bloody heartwarming…God, Shepard, you're going to make me cry!

"In no particular order, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko," a new turian announcer says, as Shepard gets ready to take the medal. There's raucous applause as Kaidan stands up and starts to walk towards the stage, as the announcer gets ready to announce the second name. I guess we're just doing it in a queuing system…go in on one side to get the medal, shake Shepard's hand, then leave on the on the other. Good system…or else we'd be here for days. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." The quarian stands up, looking over at me as she does…and I give her a reassuring smile. Despite the fact I'm feeling so tense about this. Good lord, I'd better not trip over or something. Shepard shakes Kaidan's hand, passing over the medal in its case, then he heads off to the right in order to peel back around to his seat. Shepard's getting ready to present Tali hers…

"Garrus Vakarian." The turian gives me a broad smile, looking incredibly proud as he strides off towards the podium. I hope he and Shepard kiss. Just for the look on Velarn's face.

"Liara T'Soni." The asari gets up, looking incredibly worried, as usual, and follows in the footsteps of everyone else in the squad. Oh, Garrus is going up to get his medal…and no kiss, just a notably bigger smile to him then anyone else as she shakes his talon. Damn…

"Ian Shaw." Oh, I would be the last one, wouldn't I…I get up, stepping towards the podium, suddenly acutely aware of the enormous amount of people watching, and applauding. Applauding me. Applauding us.

Bloody hell, this is epic. I don't remember this from canon…but frankly, this is one change I'll never complain about. Liara accepts her medal…and it's my turn. It's an almost out of body experience, as I barely feel my legs moving as I walk up to Shepard, and she gives me a little smile.

"Congratulations, Ian," she says, handing over the commendation. "Stellar job."

"Thanks, Shepard," I manage to blurt out, afraid to say anything more lest the pressure make my voice crack, and start to head back to my seat, looking around at the thousands of humans and aliens in the place. Brought together in victory.

And I know something damn well.

I'm never going to forget this moment. No bloody way.

###########

About three hours after the my medal presentation, and half an hour after the whole ceremony came to a close, I'm walking down the ruined Presidium, through the narrow access route that's been cut out for people…towards where I know Shiara's waiting.

This ought to be fun. But I've got a pretty burning question for her, as well. Plus, the more I think about it…she's going to be pissed about Saren, me telling Tali and Garrus, but this whole shtick she's giving me about not changing anything. I mean, thinking about it…change can be good. I can save lives while not compromising the main plot. But she is intent on nothing changing.

The thing that bother me is, where's her evidence for that? I mean, when it comes to the future, she knows literally as much as I do…so, it comes down to her opinion, rather than actual fact. An opinion I can't exactly find myself agreeing with.

Yeah. I'll start out cordial, but if she pushes me…I might get a little too honest. Hopefully she doesn't pull any kind of viole-

A sudden collision into my front sends me staggering back, as my head snaps up…to see the guy I just walked into, looking slightly startled by what just happened. Bugger, should have been paying more attention to where I was walking! Though obviously he wasn't looking much either.

"Oh shit, man," the guy says, eyes widening slightly as he looks at me. "Sorry. I'm just…kinda a little out of it now."

"That makes two of us," I chuckle, "my bad as well. Wasn't looking where I was going."

The guy suddenly looks surprised, then a slow recognition dawns on his face. "Shit, I know you!" He does? "You're on Shepard's crew! I got to say, you're pretty fucking famous around the Alliance right now. All of you." Hey, this is a nice surprise!

"Glad we have some fans," I grin back. We've got recognition! My life suddenly feels worthwhile! "Pretty much everywhere we've been, people've been trying to kill us, not saying hello." I take a glance at the guy's chest…and the Alliance symbol is on his uniform. "Alliance, huh? You in the battle?"

The bloke looks down a little, shaking his head sadly. "Yeah. I wish all of us had come out as well as you guys had. Frankly, I think it really says something that you go out into the middle of a fight against Saren and all this, and somehow you all manage to make it to the other side."

"Not quite all of us," I mutter, thinking back to Ash on Virmire…and how that's still got unavenged. Something else for me to worry about. "Saren got a friend of mine back on Virmire. Not gonna lie, though, I'd rather have fought Saren on the ground than the geth fleet out there." I point up at the sky through the Citadel's arms. "Flight was never my thing. And, erm…sorry to hear about your guys. They died as heroes."

"That they did. It's just nice to see they're getting the respect they've all earned." He smiles, as if recalling a memory. "But yeah, when I first heard I was going to be serving on a ship, I was pretty ecstatic. Flying, heights always seemed my kind of thing. Apparently, it wasn't as entertaining as I thought."

"These things tend to be a lot harsher in reality. I thought going with Shepard, it'd all be safe…that turned out pretty wrong, though." I think back to Ash, all the stuff that's changed, never mind Saren's escape…ah, can't think about it. What's done is done. I'm sure Shiara will want to talk about it a lot more than this guy, anyway. He seems pretty torn up over his friends, still, and I can't blame him. "Still, can't dwell on the bad times. It's good to have done something like this. And you sound like you've got a passion for flying, too…the Alliance could do with a hundred like you."

He laughs slightly. "I've told them that several times, but they keep saying they don't have enough sedatives to contain ten replicas, much less a hundred." I laugh back too. Hey, he's got a sense of humour!

"You seem pretty calm from where I'm standing," I point out.

"I wish," he says, a little regretfully. "I'm actually about to go off the deep end right now. I'm just trying to stay out of the institutions by keeping a straight face. But I can deal," he shrugs. "I've seen plenty of people get shot since I've been here. I hate to say it, but I think I'm acclimatizing."

"It's never exactly good when you get that feeling," I grimace. "But it's just part of the job, I guess. Going off the deep end, though, that sure as hell ain't."

"Well, at least I don't have to turn to Prozac or some shit like that," he says, a little sarcastically. Then his tone turns curious. "Do they even make that anymore?" Anymore?

I shake my head. "Can't say I've seen any of it knocking about. Though if you think you're having problems, try serving on a ship with a krogan and a turian about ten metres away from each other for two months. Then get back to me." We both share a laugh, but there's something about what he said that's bugging me slightly. "What do you mean, anymore? That stuff is pretty ancient, I think."

"I don't know," he shrugs. "I guess I was just curious. I used to think my brother was on those. I've recently discovered he wasn't. But I know about Wrex and Garrus, but you guys keep them right next to each other? Jesus Christ, how does the Normandy still exist?"

"It remains something of a minor miracle," I grin. "Get this shit, though, they're actually friends. I mean, neither probably wants to admit it, but they're just like bickering siblings really. Not that the mighty Urdnot Wrex would like that getting out, so, erm…keep it to yourself. You do _not _want that guy chasing you around with a rocket launcher."

"Don't worry," he laughs. "I think my chances of being institutionalised would double if I started telling people a turian and krogan were friends. But if you tell me it got to full on bromance, then I will began questioning my own sanity."

"I wish," I chuckle. "A human and turian bromance is still pretty surprising, but a krogan and turian is just way, way too much."

The guy suddenly looks confused. "Wait, say what?"

"Me and Garrus." Still confused. And shit, why wouldn't he be? "Sorry, man, I don't exactly know why I expected you to know that. I was partners with him in C-Sec, we shared an apartment…yeah, we go way back."

"Shared an apartment?" he smiles evilly.

"Why does everyone automatically think that?" I ask. "I had Kaidan Alenko thinking we were gay together for a bit, come to think of it…that was pretty funny. But no, we're just friends. He's got a human other than me, anyway." Oh, crap, I probably shouldn't have let that last part slip to some guy I just met…

"Tsk," the guy says, fake scolding voice firmly in place. "You do know they always say you should accept things as they are." He pauses, considering the last part of what I said. "Still, it's nice to see turians and humans on the way to at least somewhat cordiality."

Oh, now I want to hint him in…God, I'm such a gossip. This is really unprofessional. Oh well. He seems pretty trustworthy. "Trust me," I wink. "It goes beyond cordiality with the other human." Yeah, he seemed pretty down about his crew, but knew a lot about us…least I can do is cheer him up with something like this.

He quickly raises his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Yep. I mean, I don't know what your opinion on inter-species relationships is…"

"Personally, fuck all the racist bastards out there, if two people are into each other into each other, who really gives a shit about what a couple of ends of a DNA strand say?" he says bluntly.

"He'd like you," I laugh. "Good attitude. My girlfriend's a quarian, so if you'd said anything different, I'd probably have punched you. But Garrus and Shepard, well…you know." I fix him with a stern look. "You try selling that to Westerlund News, though, Wrex _will _be chasing you with that rocket launcher. Though it'll give me a good excuse to punch Al-Jilani again."

He shakes his head angrily. "God, I heard that interview. Bitch had that shit coming." He suddenly looks a little curious, sounding…almost shy. "But your girlfriend is a quarian? I'm sorry, but…but you do know what she looks like?" The guy shakes his head almost as soon as he says it. "I'm sorry, I'm prying. Forget it."

I raise an eyebrow. It's a bit of an odd question, but he's apologetic about it, and I really damn like this guy. "I don't know what she looks like under the mask, if that's what you mean, but you must have heard of Tali'Zorah, right? Seeing as you know the rest of the crew."

"God yeah!" he says, a little too quickly. Huh.

"Then you already know what she looks like," I smile.

He nods his head understandingly. "Yeah, you're right. Gotta say, you're a lucky man."

"Believe me, I know," I say, leaving a little silence for a few seconds. "So, where were you in such a rush to that you couldn't look up?"

"I have to go to another debriefing," he explains, sounding annoyed. "I hate these things. I'm pretty sure you could find a way of making mud dry more entertaining than these. I could reciprocate the question, though, considering you ran into me as well."

I frown, thinking to Shiara waiting up ahead…I'm probably gonna have as much fun there as this guy at his debrief. "Got some personal stuff to deal with. I'd rather be at a debrief with Shepard, those things tend to take about a minute with her. She hates 'em."

"I think I've dug into personal territory enough here," he says, signalling an end to the conversation. "I'll let you go to that."

"Alright," I smile, as he turns his back and starts to walk away. "Hey, wait! I never caught your name."

"Tom Sheridan," he smiles. "You might want to remember that. It's gonna become a household name at some point!"

"You got a rank to go along with that, Tom?"

"Corporal, as of now. We'll have to see what comes up." He looks like he's about to walk away…then slowly turns back around again. "So, is the galaxy officially saved? You seem like you'd be an authority on that!"

I pause slightly. The Council probably won't approve, but I ain't gonna just lie to him. "Officially, yes. Off the record?" I give him a stare. "Don't count on it. See you around, Corporal."

He looks thoughtful, the slowly turns around. "You too." And with that, Corporal Tom Sheridan is gone, walking briskly away down the Presidium. Huh. Cool guy.

Well, that's put me in something of a good mood. Too bad the asari waiting for me just up ahead is gonna knock me straight out of it.

###########

And it doesn't look like she's here. Oh, ain't that bloody perfect! The one time I've got some real solid questions for her, and she doesn't even sho-

"Hello, Ian," a familiar voice says behind me, making me whirl around…and there she is. Shiara. Looking a bit older than I last remember, and more tired. "Long time no see."

"You're lucky I didn't punch you out, or something," I sigh, coming down from the slight adrenaline rush from the shock of her appearance. "Paranoid and jumpy. Oh, wait, you've seen inside my head," I say sarcastically. "You already knew that, right?"

She nods, smiling enigmatically. "Right. But I think we have some things we need to discuss, don't you?" Right, I'm sick of her smug attitude. Acting like she's all high and mighty, when really she knows as much about the future as I bloody do. I've thought about Saren, considered the consequences of telling Tali and Garrus the truth…and it's not something that worries me a large amount. Well, Saren a bit, but you know. Having a Prothean Cipher in my head, though, does _massively_.

"I assume you mean Saren's escape, then," I shrug. "What of it?"

Shiara looks at me in surprise, eyes widening slightly. "What of it? The antagonist of this whole tale escapes, and you ask me _that? _I told you, things cannot change! It could lead to catastrophic consequences!"

"Actually," I say, trying to maintain my calm, "I talked it over with Tali'Zorah and Garrus already. Saren could have killed us, but he didn't. He ran away, so I can only assume he's going into hiding. Last we'll see of him? I doubt it. But it's not necessarily a bad change. He could return as a good guy, for all I know."

"Or, he could return with a geth fleet, and wipe this place off the planet! What if Shepard looks for him instead of the geth? Would the Collectors ever attack?" Shiara points out, raising her voice slightly. She does get angry, then… "And you _told _Tali and Garrus? After everything I warned you about?"

"Shepard's already been told by the Council that Saren's a lost cause," I point out. "The focus is still on the geth, so the attack is still going to happen. And I don't exactly see the world ending around us because I told Tali and Garrus. I've thought this through, and change is sustainable."

The asari shakes her head firmly. "Sustainable? One small thing could send this spiralling out of control! One little change!"

"Then you know what is one little change?" I ask, raising my voice to go along with hers. "Me. Me being here. One extra squad member, one extra role in the story…for fuck's sake Shiara, how could you expect things not to change? Which brings me onto my question to you. Why the hell did you put a Prothean Cipher in my head, then not fucking tell me?"

Shiara's eyes widen slightly when I say that. "So, you found out about the Cipher."

"Yeah," I nod bitterly. "You want to explain that?"

"I can't, not yet," she says. Oh, come on! This is horseshit!

"Oh, cut the crap!" I shout. How can she lie to me like this? "This is my life you're just fucking with here! And why the hell can't you tell me?"

"Because you need to find these things out yourself, to understand them! If you knew the whole truth, it could change too much! But I'll tell you one thing, to satisfy your curiosity for now. I didn't give you the Cipher."

What? "Then who the hell did?"

"You'll find out in time," she says. Great, she's stonewalling, again! That's another mystery for me, then… "Or maybe not, given the rate you're changing everything at! I read the mission report about Virmire, about how you split the squad to try and rescue Ash."

"So what?" I snarl. "I was supposed to let my friend just die? Keep doing that this whole time, even when it could be avoided without stopping the overall plot?"

"Yes! It's too much of a risk! You ruined it, Ian! There was a plotline, where everything already fell into place for you, and then you go and change it with something like that!" Shiara shouts. Oh, I am not taking this shit! She's wrong!

"I'm not just gonna let people die anymore!" I shout back. "Not where they can be saved!"

Shiara scoffs at me. "Look how well that worked with Ash." No…she did not just bring her into this again. "You go to rescue her, end up talking to Saren…and now he's loose in the galaxy somewhere!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I yell.

"It means YOU MESSED UP!" Shiara yells back. "I told you what you had to do. That any change, anything at all, could derail this whole thing!" I'm about to shout something back…but instead I can't help chuckling. Then the chuckling turns into laughter, as Shiara's face gets progressively more confused. "What? What's so funny?"

"You," I finally say. "All this _bullshit _you're feeding me about not derailing things. First of all, the very fact I'm here derails things somewhat, wouldn't you say? Second, I'm not gonna just stand here and listen to you tell me I shouldn't have tried to save Ash, especially when Saren surviving might not even be a bad thing, since he was remorseful for what he did! He had a chance to kill us back there, and he didn't take it! He ran like a man with a guilty conscience!"

"You don't know that…" Shiara starts to say, but I hold up a hand to cut her off.

"That leads me quite nicely to my last point, actually," I snarl. "You don't know either, Shiara. You know exactly as much about what's going to happen in the future as I do, since you got your information about that from _my _head. It's just your opinion, and guess what? I beg to fucking differ." I shake my head at her. "Years ago, I was actually scared of you, you know that? The person who turned my life upside-down, brought me here. But the more I think about it, the more I realise, you're not some supernatural being who can tell me what's going to happen. You're just trying to control this how you want. And I know you're hiding secrets from me, so actually, you're not helping me at all here. You've just got your idea of how you want this to pan out, and I'm not bloody conforming to it anymore. No more running away from change. I don't need you."

The asari just gawps at me for a few seconds, then slowly starts talking again. "This is a mistake," she says, a little threateningly. "You can't just change things…they all add into this as a whole! Don't be stupid!"

Nope. I'm past listening to her, now. "There's only a few key things in this universe that need to stay the same, I know that," I tell her, calming down a little. "I know I can't change everything. But if I'm really here to stop the Reapers, like you said, then just letting everything pan out as if I wasn't here isn't the way to do it. This isn't up for debate, Shiara. And I know you've got the secrets about me…the stuff you can't reveal until I find out about it myself. Then, we'll talk again. But you don't control my actions. Not anymore." I start to walk out of the alley, leaving the asari just standing there gobsmacked, then turn my head slightly, looking at her. "Good talking to you. Got a lot off my chest."

"Don't turn your back on me! This isn't how it goes!" she yells, but I just shake my head and walk out of the alleyway. Watch me, Shiara. She genuinely doesn't know anymore than I do…her idea of what I should do is exactly that. An idea. Until she can give me some concrete evidence about whatever she's hiding, I can finally control my own life. It took two and a bit years for the revelation to finally hit home, but now it has…

It feels phenomenal.

###########

"So," Tali says, as I flop backwards onto our bed back on the Normandy. "How did the meeting with Shiara go?"

"I was honest with her," I say, breathing in deep. Freedom…it feels good. Well, freedom to an extent, since there's some things I just can't touch or alter, but at least I don't have to worry about what she thinks now. "I realised that she knows as much about what's going to happen as I do, really, since she got all her knowledge from my head. And I'm not gonna let her control me. Change can be good. I'm sure of it."

Tali folds her arms, body language suggesting uncertainty for a few seconds…before she relaxes and leans back on the headboard, nodding slightly. "That's probably the right decision. It's your life, after all. She didn't tell you about the Cipher, though?"

"No," I sigh. "Just another piece of the puzzle to solve. She said it wasn't her, though…which is bloody confusing. There's nowhere else I could have got it apart from her."

"Maybe she was lying?" Tali suggests. "To spite you for turning your back on her?"

"Possibly," I muse. "We'll just have to wait and see, I guess."

"Wait and see?" Tali asks incredulously. "You have a Prothean artefact in your head, and you want to _wait and see?_"

"What else can I do?" I shrug. It's not exactly nice to think…but it's true. I've got no way of finding out the answer, just gotta hope it comes to me. Same with the whole deal with Saren. As much as I'd like to hunt him down, as I imagine the Council and Shepard would too, it's not possible. He's off the radar. For now. "We've still got years of this fight left, after all. And with everything Vigil said about the Prothean plan…there's got to be an explanation for all this out there somewhere. I just need to wait for it."

Tali slowly slides down the headboard to lie next to me, and we both stare up at the ceiling, side by side. "Of course. It's not over yet…it's hard to think, just over two years from now, we'll be facing the Reaper threat all over again."

"Then don't think about it," I say, turning over on the pillow and smiling at her. "We've got months until everything that starts that off happens. For now, it's over. And until you have to go back to the Flotilla, we all split up and wait for Shepard to come back…we need to savour this. Because when we come back together, it'll be in war. Peace is something we're going to need to cherish, because it's the last of it we're going to get for a long, long time."

"You always put such a positive spin on things," Tali mutters, making me chuckle as she puts one three-fingered hand on my face. "So. How are we going to spend it?"

"You know," I laugh. "I'm kinda happy with us like this for the moment. We get to know each other better, kill some geth…think of it as a holiday. God knows we've earned one."

"How much better?" Tali suddenly asks, sliding her other hand onto my shoulder. _Oh._

"Never had you down as the flirtatious type," I chuckle, making Tali crack up a bit, and drop the hand down again. "That's one change I'm grateful for, though. You seem more confident when we're together."

"It's because I trust you," Tali says happily. "But I was being serious about what we're going to do on this 'holiday'."

I look out of the room's window into the vastness of space, contemplating Tali's question. There's geth out there for us to remove, Saren hiding somewhere, Reapers out in dark space…but you know what?

Fuck 'em. I'm on holiday. They can bloody wait.

"And I was being serious about my answer," I grin. "We spend it together. Us, the rest of the crew, cherish this last bits of time we have before the whole galaxy goes to hell again. Starting with getting to know you better. Can we skip back to the part where you had your hand on my shoulder, and it was all intimate and shit?"

"Since you put it so tactfully," Tali laughs. "There's something I was meaning to tell you, actually, now that we talk about trust."

Huh? I pull a confused face, raising an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

"While you were gone to see Shiara, I…you know those herbal supplements I was talking about?" she says, voice getting progressively more nervous. Oh. My. God. "I…well…erm…when I said I wanted you to see my face, I meant it. I mean, it doesn't have to go any further than that, for now, but since everything with Sovereign is over then I should…"

"Tali, are you sure you're ready for this?" I ask seriously, but the quarian shakes her head firmly.

"And I knew you'd ask that," she chuckles, "so I already took the herbal supplements. I know it's a big decision, and it's not going to go beyond just taking the visor off, since we're not ready for that...but I'm sure about this, and you can't talk me out of it." Since when was Tali the forceful one? I mean, this might not end so-

And before I can react, her hand goes up to the mask, the visor…and without warning, it's off.

For the first time ever, I stare into Tali'Zorah's eyes…and see her smile at me. Wow, so that's what a quarian looks like under the mask? It's…unbelievable. No wonder they don't like wearing them.

"Tali…you're…wow." Is all I can say, looking at her smiling at me and trying to drink in more of the beautiful face, but before I do anything else, say anything more, she leaps forward, pushing me back onto the bed and finally kissing me on the lips.

Bloody hell.

Don't freak out.

* * *

**END OF PART TWO**

* * *

**A/N: I should point out that's a good 'don't freak out'. As in 'don't freak out with joy'. And yeah, I'm such a tease, not describing her face. I want to leave the air of mystery in for BioWare…and Mass Effect 3.**

**And so Masses to Masses 2 is finished! Once again, it's been an amazing journey to get to this point…even more this time than MtM1, since this has been twice as long, all the new characters, the sheer scale of support from all of you readers and everything…it's been absolutely incredible. Readers, reviewers, your continued support is what inspires me, so thank you so damn much for it for your part in getting us here. I mean, almost 1,000 reviews as I write this, the story will hopefully break that...it's absolutely phenomenal.**

**Speaking of which, I ought to specially thank the elite consistent reviewing team, for letting me always know there'll be someone to get feedback from, to bounce ideas off, and for helping in general. So, in no particular order, thanks to:**

**Kassandra Black  
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zarax  
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****Bugsquirt, for being so irritatingly constructive and right throughout this :-)  
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****blackmamuth**

**Wow. That's a lot of people…and of course, extra special thanks to close friends on the site for helping out so damn much over all of this (go read their stories):**

**Kassandra Black: Author of Melting the Ice in the Fable section, and numerous Kaidan fics in this fandom.  
****Herr Wozzeck: Author of Mass Vexations, most famously, along with The Tales We Tell (District 9 fanfiction) and Leads (Heavy Rain).  
****porcupinetheater: Author of After the Reapers and True Identity, both in the Mass Effect fandom.**

**So, Masses to Masses 3 is coming, and confirmed that'll it'll be the two year gap between Mass Effect 1 and 2. Where, though? Wait until it comes out for that. Hopefully that should start in July, and I'm afraid there's no chance of any plot bunnies attacking. From now until the end of June, I'm in revision mode for exams. Apologies. But it'll be worth the wait!**

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**It's been such good fun to write this, read all your comments and messages, see the subscriptions and favourites…so thank you all, once again. **

**See ya later.**

**Ian.**


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